Dark Contract Book 2: Just Business
by johntheanimefan
Summary: 3 years into the eds lifelong servitude to the supernatural crime syndicate, The Contractors, and our heroes have managed to adapt to their new surroundings. But their master has decided to bring them in on his ultimate plan for the world, which will force the eds to face their past as well as the worst the supernatural world has to offer. But hey, that's just business.
1. Back to Business

**Well, here we are. Book 2. And yes, this is book 2. We'll have the obligatory prologue explaining the basics of the story down below, but if you want a more thorough explanation of what's going on, check out the previous story "Ed Edd n Eddy Dark Contract" (and please go easy on the first 3 chapters, I was still learning ^^;). However, I am going to do whatever I can to make this second book as standalone as a continuation can be. The first story will help you appreciate or better understand some of the details, but I'll try to make it that you don't NEED to read the first story to get this one. However, this is the only time I'm doing this. Books 3 and onwards will not waste time doing this. Who in their right mind reads the middle book in a series and expects to understand every little detail? Anyway, enough stalling, onwards!**

 _Stop me if you've heard this one (even though you cannot, for I am the narrator, and thus in complete control of your puny mind…mwahaha) A man wants something. Whether it be money, power, eternal life, or just the ability to do whatever he wants without reproach. The man wants it so badly and so passionately, that he would do anything to get it. That desire gets the attention of the Devil himself, who offers up a deal to give him that thing he wants so badly. All he has to do for him is sign on the dotted line of the devil's contract. The man signs, and gets what he wants, but the devil gets his soul in return, and with it, the last laugh._

 _Most of this story is true, save for one detail: the devil had nothing to do with it. Though for some, even that may be up for debate._

 _They are known as The Contractors. The organized crime syndicate of the supernatural world. While their work has many more facets to it than the name implies, the creation of Faustian deals is the organization's bread and butter._

 _The contractors have been around for as long as there have been deals to be blamed on the devil. Not only do they utilize these deals to gain souls, they also serve as excellent recruiting tools._

 _Which brings us to the present day, and three boys named Ed, Edd, and Eddy. Three boys, 16 years of age, on the run after a get rich quick scheme went horribly awry. They were approached by Eddy's brother, Delta, who offered them sanctuary in the form of his company. All they had to do was sign the dotted line._

 _So they did, and thus were thrown into a world of intrigue and danger that had been hiding in the corners of their eyes all their lives._

 _It has been three years since the eds swore themselves to the service of Master Seraphim. And it is here where the story continues…_

When Eddy first laid eyes on Castle Trotz, 3 years ago, he was speechless in disbelief. And that, as many of his friends would tell you, was quite the accomplishment. Eddy always had something to say, even if it got him in trouble. It was never in his nature to be in pure, venerated, shock at anything, much less a building in the middle of nowhere Germany. But when he first laid eyes on its pitch black obsidian walls, the purples, reds and yellows of the stain glass windows, and the stone gargoyles whose eyes seemed to follow you down the path to the massive mahogany doors, Eddy could do nothing but silently take all of it in.

3 years later, the black color scheme turned the inside of the castle into a slow cooker during summer, the stain glass dulled any light that came in, making it hard to see if the lights went out, and the gargoyles were just flat out cliché.

Eddy was never sure if his waning fear of the contractor's base of operations was due to him becoming desensitized to the insanity after so long, or if he was just that jaded.

3 years in to the day, and an answer had yet to present itself.

That thought made Eddy perk up from his desk, where he was daydrea-working on some reports for Master Seraphim. It was the three year anniversary of the day they were recruited. Something in the back of Eddy's mind told him that that should mean something. But he just didn't know what.

Eddy ran a hand through his jet black hair and sighed. Maybe a celebratory lunch? Eddy rose up, straightened his black tie, and walked out of his office.

The hallways of the castle were as dreary as always. Life would occasionally be injected into these dour halls if it were filled with people, but Mondays were unbearably slow.

The three years hadn't changed Eddy all that much. He was still the shortest person he knew, and his black hair still stood up perfectly straight despite him never applying any hair product to it once in his life. There was a small scar on the left side of his neck from a mission two years ago, and he had recently groomed a small mustache for himself. That, however, was the extent of the changes the years had given him.

"Finished with the reports, Eddy?" asked a familiar voice from behind him. Eddy turned to see Double d walking up to join him. Three years, and Double d still had that sock hat on his head, somehow spotless despite the insanity that was their daily lives. Thankfully, the years had also finally put some meat on the lanky teen's bones. While not nearly liefeldian in musculature, he was certainly far improved compared to the lightweight that first entered this castle.

"Decided to take a break, get a snack. Wanna come with?" Eddy asked, pointing his thumb behind him.

Double d shrugged. "Sure thing." With that, the two proceeded down the hall together.

The cafeteria was the same as always. Large, with hundreds of tables, most of them empty. Eddy wasn't complaining however, as this meant more food for him. So he and double d got some food, found their table, and dug in. "So, seen Ed today?" asked Eddy.

"He's probably still in the training room," said Double d.

Eddy smirked and chuckled. "Does that guy ever sleep anymore?"

"Yeah. He sleeps in the training room."

"Think we should have an intervention?"

"Yes, but that leads to the next, more pressing question; will he listen?"

"Point proven."

"Top of the morning, boys," said a voice from behind who draped an arm over eddy's shoulder. Cobalt smirked at Eddy, who was trying to wretch free of her clutches. "Finish that report yet?" The only major change to Cobalt in the past three years was her beautiful, but toned, body had become even more so. Her slightly muscular teenage body had matured into that of a petite bodybuilder.

"I will after lunch, boss," Eddy said, finally getting Cobalt's deceptively slender arm off of his shoulders.

"Better hop to it," Cobalt said, standing back up. "We're getting some pretty tasty jobs today. You don't hurry, you'll miss all the fun." She finished that sentence with a teasing, sing song tone as she walked off.

Eddy kept his gaze on Cobalt's back as she sauntered away. Double d rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers in front of Eddy's face, bringing him back to reality. "Distracted, are we?"

Eddy's eyes widened for a sec and he loosened his tie. "Oh, uh, sorry," he said, standing up. "Yeah yeah, I'll go handle the report. Thanks, mother." With a spin of his heels, Eddy made his way out of the cafeteria.

Double d chuckled and sat back in his chair. His eye was drawn to the job board in the far left corner of the room. Three years, huh?

 _The eds looked up at the green and blue board in front of them, laden with various posters and papers advertising different jobs. "This, as you may have gathered-" said Cobalt, who walked up in front of them. "-Is the job board. Here is where the vast majority of your profits will come from." Cobalt pulled out an extendable pointer and tapped on a contract. "In some cases, the client will offer something for us in exchange for our services. Usually money or information, but the choice is often up to them. If daddy doesn't see the exchange as profitable for the work involved, the price will become the client's soul."_

 _Cobalt then pointed to another contract. In contrast to the previous parchment, this contract bore no price at all. "These are the jobs you want to look for. Whether its dumbasses who don't know how the system works, or people who know damn well how it works and just don't care, no price offered means we take their soul, end of story."_

 _"And what do souls do for us?" asked Eddy._

 _"The souls aren't for you, they're for daddy. If the price is money, you simply get a third of the profits. But a soul equals to a couple thousand dollars an hour depending on the job. Zephyr gets souls, you get money, any questions?"_

 _Double d was the first to raise a hand. "Are we allowed to drop out of a job if we feel we must?"_

 _"Nope," Cobalt said. "Read every single contract thoroughly, and learn to read between the lines. You can choose which jobs you take, but when you take one, you either complete it, or you die."_

 _All three shared a gulp. Eddy raised his hand. "So, do you go on a lot of jobs?"_

 _"I think you've learned all you need to know," Cobalt said, ignoring the question and walking away. "Pick a job and get working. We don't pay you three to lounge around."_

 _All three watched her leave, dumbfounded at her sudden hostility. "Well that came out of nowhere," Eddy said._

Double d chuckled to himself, sitting back up. Their reserves were running a tad low. A job was probably the best idea.

Double d rose from his chair and walked out of the cafeteria. He needed to fetch Ed.

Meanwhile…

Another day, another training dummy destroyed.

Ed flopped down on the bench, which laid at the edge of the training courtyard, and helped himself to his 5th bottle of water. Ed had always been strong, but his lanky figure had always masked that from those who didn't know any better. Three years with the contractors, however, had given Ed the body to match his strength. Equally as muscular as Cobalt, but twice the size.

"I'm starting to believe a third of the company budget goes into making you better dummies," said Hungryface, who walked up to Ed with a towel. Little had changed about Hungryface, save for a snazzy new goatee on his face.

Ed chuckled. "Am I that bad?" he asked.

Hungryface shrugged. "Hard to say, but you won't hear me complaining."

The door to the courtyard swung open, and in walked Double d. "Ed," he said. "We're about to look for a job. Would you care to join us?"

"You even have to ask?" Ed replied, practically jumping to his feet and running over to his friend. "Let's go!"

Ed grabbed Double d by the hand and ran out of the room, hungryface laughing heartily as he waved them both off.

Later…

Eddy was leaned against the wall adjacent to the door to Zephyr's office. His head was pressed against the obsidian stone as he stared off into space. No matter what subject came into his mind, his thoughts inevitably found a way to veer back to his redheaded superior. It seemed that today being the three year anniversary did mean something to him; it meant all the changes over those years were far more noticeable to him. Or in the case of Cobalt; the lack of changes.

Three years, and barely anything about their relationship had changed. Oh, they were much closer to be sure. But their roles were as defined now as they were back then. Eddy could practically set his watch to their routine: he advances, Cobalt sarcastically rebuffs him. Rinse and repeat. At least if she had outright rejected him, that'd be some form of progression. As it stood, a part of Eddy was starting to believe that he was trapped in some sort of time loop with that girl.

Which wouldn't be a problem, if his feelings for her had also stagnated. They had not.

"Oh, there you are," said an approaching Double d, which broke Eddy from his trance. Eddy looked over and smiled at his two friends. "Finished the-?" Eddy pulled out the report before Double d could finish the question. "Alright then, shall we?" Double d gestured for Eddy to go in first, and Eddy obliged.

And, like so many times before, he bottled up his thoughts for a later date…


	2. Just Another Job

**And we're back! Let's get down to business!**

If there were two things that the three years hadn't changed a single iota for the eds, they would be their master, Zephyr Seraphim, and his office. The office still carried the same uneasy atmosphere it had all those years ago. No matter what the three boys had seen in their careers, they always felt like children again when they entered this room. And their master, Zephyr, was exactly the same as when they first came to him, showing no signs of age whatsoever. The eds always surmised that Zephyr was immortal because of this, and while they never had any proof of this, there was also none to the contrary. Zephyr's red eyes fell upon the three and his perfect white teeth twisted into a smile. "Boys," he said in that same voice as smooth and cold as a knife against your throat. "Come in, come in."

The eds walked into the room and up to Zephyr's desk. Eddy presented the report file to his master. "Here's the report you wanted, boss," he said.

"Excellent, read it back to me, if you would."

Eddy opened the file, cleared his throat and began. "The contract in question was addressed to one Wilfred Hormel, British, age 64. His request, in exchange for his soul being claimed by our company, was for us to assassinate his son's abusive ex-wife, ensure that he could collect the insurance money without the murder being traced back to him, and return to him custody of his daughter. The contract was completed as per requirements, and Mr. Hormel now belongs to us." Eddy closed the file and laid it on Zephyr's desk. The file burst into green flame and flew into Zephyr's open palm. Zephyr closed his fist, dissipating the flame.

"Good work, you three," said Zephyr. "The money for the job will be added to your account. And since this is your third success in a row, you get armory privileges." The eds beamed at this. Every contractor strived for armory privileges, since that meant they could take any weapon they pleased from the armory for one job. Given the dangerous nature of this job, the appeal was self-explanatory. "Also, Cobalt tells me you wish to look at the new jobs, is that correct?"

"Yes sir, it is," said Eddy.

Zephyr shrugged. "Very well then." He pressed a button on his table, which opened a slot in his desk, where out came a shelf holding the new contracts. The eds each gave every contract the once over, reading every word of each paper. One contract caught Eddy's eye, prompting him to pick it up off the shelf. Like all contracts typically posted on the board, it was yet to be signed, merely containing the client's request and his put forth price. The contract read as follows

 _My name is Johnathan Taylor. I know who you people are, I know what you do, and I don't care. My daughter has been kidnapped, and if there was anyone else who was able to help me find her, I would've gone to them instead. No one else has been able to find her, and I am at my limits. I live in New Orleans, Louisiana, my daughter Cynthia disappeared from just down the street from our home. If you need any more information, I will freely share what else I know. Find Cynthia, and I will sign any contract you give me._

New Orleans. That word stuck in Eddy's mind. The place where his life changed forever (Jury was still out on whether or not for the better). Eddy smirked, rolling up the contract and putting it in his coat. "Boys, we've got ourselves a job," he said.

"The new Orleans one?" asked Double d.

Eddy shrugged. "What can I say, I'm feeling nostalgic." Double d and Ed exchanged a shrug before following Eddy to the door. "We'll be taking this job, boss. See ya when we get back!"

Zephyr waved goodbye to the three. "Have fun, you three," he said with a smile.

Cobalt came into the office as the eds were leaving. "Got a job?" she asked with a wry smirk.

"You know it," said Eddy, holding up the paper.

Cobalt winked at Eddy. "Have fun, short stack." The two high fived as they passed each other and the eds exited the office.

"So," said Double d as the three made their way to the stairwell. "Armory?"

"Armory," said Eddy with a smirk.

Down three floors, two hallways, and through the fifth door on the right, was the castle armory. If even the most reserved gun nut were to step into the armory of Castle Trotz, with its seemingly endless hallways wallpapered with military grade hardware, he/she would suddenly be overcome with the most thunderous orgasm in their lives. And in front of it all was a small wooden desk with a cash register sitting on top. Behind which was Ritter, flashing the eds his most pleasant smile as always. "Welcome, boys," said the butler, who was as unchanged by the years as Zephyr. Though this did not surprise the eds as much, as it was obvious to anyone that Ritter was anything but human. "Master Seraphim tells me that you have been granted Armory privileges."

"You heard correctly, stretch," said Eddy, who leaned on the wooden counter with a crooked smirk. "You know which one I want."

Ritter nodded and pulled a small metal box out from under the counter. Eddy popped open the case and pulled out a VERY big revolver. The first time Eddy got Armory privileges, he bought up this gun. Mostly just to impress Cobalt, which lead to him smacking himself in the face with it when he first fired it. Eddy was never one to turn down a challenge, though, so he kept crawling back for more until he finally earned the blasted thing's respect. Now, it was his favorite weapon.

Ed retrieved his brass knuckles and a revolver shotgun, while Double d retrieved his Snakewood baton and a small SMG. "Wish us luck," said Eddy as they walked out of the armory. Ritter merely gave them a small wave as they left.

Now fully equipped, all that was left was to hitch a ride to New Orleans. As such, the eds then made their way to a large steel door one might expect to find guarding some CEO's buried treasure or the frozen head of Jimmy Hoffa. Above the door was a plague that read "Shadow Travel Room". Eddy input the passcode into a small keypad next to the door, unlocking the room for them. The room inside was completely empty and soul crushingly dark, which was ideal for the room's primary function. The eds stepped inside, and the door closed behind them. The eds closed their eyes and focused as hard as they could on the city of New Orleans, and the name Johnathan Taylor. When the eds opened their eyes, they were now packed together in a dark closet.

"Crap, I hate it when this happens."

"Who is closest to the door? Try to get it open."

"Have to be careful, guys. Coming out of the closet is always delicate."

"Just get this damn thing open, lummox!"

Ed chuckled as he pushed open the closet door, causing the three to spill out onto the floor of a teenage girl's bedroom, thankfully vacant. Eddy stood up and popped his back. "Ed, you need to wait until you're OUT of the closet before you can make that joke," he said.

Ed stood up and helped Double d to his feet. "But then you would've made it," ed replied with a pout.

Eddy shrugged. "Touché Capitan."

"Um, fellows?" Double d said, pointing past Eddy and Ed. The two turned around to see a middle aged man in striped boxers and an open bathrobe standing in front of them, double barrel aimed at their heads.

Eddy perked up. "Oh, right," he said, straightening his tie and clearing his throat. "Mr. Taylor, I presume?"

Johnathan loosened up a bit, but kept his gun trained on the three. "Yeah," he said warily.

Eddy gave the man a curt bow and presented his contract. "We got your message. We're here to help you."

Meanwhile, across the city…

On a random street, in the back of a random alleyway, nestled between a nightclub and a pawn shop, was a small assortment of boxes and sheets of metal that, if one squinted while it was really dark, could resemble a makeshift dwelling…if you were drunk. The inhabitant of this dwelling was well aware of his inability to build worth a damn. Though he'd lost the capacity to care two years ago.

Anyone who knew Kevin before would hardly recognize the man as he was. His ginger hair had grown into a short, scraggly beard with an unkempt pile of locks on top of his head to match. His clothes were caked in dirt and rainwater and riddled with holes. His bloodshot, sleep deprived eyes stared up at the cloudless blue sky, where the hot summer sun beat down on him. He went to lay down on his mat of rags, where his eyes couldn't help but fall on a particular piece of cardboard. The board was covered in photographs from all over the world, leads that went nowhere, and headlines that had no connection. But what mocked Kevin most of all was the subject of such obsessive info gathering, which was helpfully painted in red at the top of the board.

WHERE ARE THE EDS?

Three years, and he was nowhere close to an answer.

Every time he had a lead, they were gone within a week, a month if he was lucky. Even if that wasn't the case, he was out of money, out of friends, and out of options. The last place where someone matching Eddy's description had been seen (i.e the last time he bothered checking) was in Berlin, Germany, one year ago. He was seen in a marketplace, with some sweet redhead walking with him.

It didn't matter to Kevin anymore. He was destined to die on the streets of this god forsaken town, and he had grown to be at peace with that. So, he stood up, and did what he'd been meaning to for a while.

He walked up to the nearest trash can, and dumped the board and all of his findings in the garbage. He then returned to his hovel to get some sleep.

Back with the eds…

After convincing the good Mr Taylor that it was ok to put down the shotgun, the eds guided him into the living room, to discuss the specifics on their contract over coffee. Johnathan had his head in his hands as he explained. "She was just going to a friend of mine's house for a party," he said. "It's just down the street, and yet no one even saw her car drive past. I called the police, but all they found was her car in a parking lot across town. After a while they, they just gave her up for dead." Johnathan's teeth clenched tight. "They're lying, they have to be. They gave up way too easily on her, I tell you. Cindy's alive, she has to be. And since the police are either useless or somehow in on it-" Johnathan looked up the eds sitting across from him. "-I looked for other means of finding her."

Eddy quietly sipped on his coffee throughout the story. Once it was done, he placed the contract on the coffee table and slid it over to Johnathan. "You've given us a fair bit to work on, Mr. Taylor," he said. "Now about the terms of our contract."

"I know what you want," Johnathan said without a moment's hesitation. "I know, and I don't care. It's all yours, just please, _please_ find my daughter!" He hung his head, trying to keep himself composed. He looked back up to see Eddy's hand outstretched to him.

"I think those terms are more than reasonable," he said. Johnathan reached over and shook Eddy's hand, sealing the contract. "We have a deal…"


	3. A contractor's bread and butter

**Welcome back! So, where have I been? Well, working on fusionfall, for one, but I've also been helping my girlfriend write one of her stories, a fairy tail fanfic called "diamond soul" (which you should all go read RIGHT NOW XD) and I've just recently been way more invested in that. Also I've been getting into the knights of the old republic franchise, and college work on top of all that. But I'm back, so let's get back to it!**

Cynthia had last been seen heading down the street for a party. Therefore, her destination was the first obvious step. After retrieving the address from Mr. Taylor, the Eds made their way over. Eddy calmly knocked on the teal door three times, and then rang the doorbell. While waiting, Double D's eyes drifted to Eddy. "Are you sure this will get us anywhere?" he asked.

Eddy's eyes darted to his friend. "It's the best lead we got so far," he said. "The cops will have impounded her car by now, and if there was anything in there that'd be suspicious, they'd have run it by ol' Johnny. This is our best bet." Eddy's eyes returned to the door as the sound of sliding locks caught his ear. "Showtime." Eddy reached into his coat and produced a small candle and match.

The door creaked open, revealing a balding man in his 40's wearing a white tanktop and striped boxers. "Y-yes?' he asked. "How can I help you?"

"Do me a favor," said Eddy as he held up the now lit candle to the man's face. "Look at this candle." The man's face contorted in confusion before giving into temptation, looking down at the candle. His attention off of Eddy, the contractor lifted up his hand, closing it in a way that had all of his fingers pointing at the man's face. Eddy then swiftly opened his fingers, activating the spell. Soft black smog drifted from the man's eyes, and his body went limp. Ed caught him in time and laid him on the floor. The black smog rose and pooled in a circle on the floor around his head. Despite his eyes being wide open, the man snored and fidgeted as if he were in a deep sleep.

Eddy placed the candle on the floor in front of the man's head, smirking down at his handiwork. "Nero's candle," he said. "Never gets old." Nero's candle; one of the breads and butters in a contractor's bag of tricks. As long as the candle was burning, the victim would remain in a deep, unbreakable sleep. Allowing the contractor to go about their business without resorting to unnecessary violence. The Eds crept around sleeping beauty and into the house.

The living room of the house was certainly spacious enough to hold enough people for a party, but the tacky late-70's décor hardly said _this is a place where people come to be within the same time zone as the concept of fun._ "Is that a laserdisk player?" asked Double d, who marveled at the ancient artifact before him.

"Pssh, poser," Eddy scoffed as he wandered around the living room. "Get a disco ball, then we'll talk." When five minutes of searching yielded no results, the Eds regrouped in the center of the topsy turvied living room. Eddy placed his chin in his hand. "Nothing on the surface, looks like."

"Time to look closer, then," Double d said. He turned to Ed, smiling with a fist on his hip. "Ed, would you do the honors?"

Ed grinned. "Okie dokey smokey!" he said, pulling out a pair of black tea shade glasses. Once on his face, he turned one of the lenses like a dial. From Ed's point of view, the glasses tinted the entire room a sickly green. But they also showed Ed something that'd been hidden from his vision before. A trail of blue mist that led through the air into the dining room. A clear sign of someone in the house recently using magic. Eddy and Double d followed Ed, who followed the trail into the dining room, where the mist gathered around a small space on the southern end of the black dining table. "Well, lookie here." Ed leaned into the gathered mist, allowing the glasses to scan it. "It's a forge spell," said Ed, who turned to his friends.

"Meaning either Cynthia was here and used the spell to make everyone forget she ever showed up…" said Double d.

"Or she was meeting up with someone, and _they_ cast the spell," Eddy finished.

Double d placed his hand to his chin. "That still doesn't get us very far," he said. "If there was another person here, I doubt our gracious host remembers him either."

"So," said Ed with a raised finger. "What are the chances she left her phone behind?"

Eddy held up his own finger to argue…until he thought about it. "Phones do have GPS trackers," he said. "If she didn't want to be followed, she'd be smart to leave it behind."

"It's not like we have any better leads," said Double d. And so, the three calmly walked out of the house. On their way out, Ed kicked over nero's candle, snuffing the flame. The man woke up three seconds later, by which time, they were gone.

* * *

 _The first several months of Eddy's contractor career were rough, to say the least. Between the gunfights and whatever monster Zephyr had them go after that particular week, Eddy was probably more familiar with the infirmary than his own room._

 _Thankfully, he'd managed to swallow his pride when Hungryface offered to pick up where they left off with his combat training. However, the only difference between those sparring sessions and his regular jobs was that his opponent took him to the cafeteria for a soda after pounding his ass into the dirt._

 _It was such a day for Eddy when a question popped back into his mind. "Hey uh, Hungryface?" Eddy asked, narrowly parrying the senior contractor's Bo staff with his practice knife._

 _"Something on your mind, kiddo?" asked Hungryface, who just barely missed Eddy's torso with a thrust of his staff._

 _"Why is it I never see Cobalt go out on a job?" The question appeared to take Hungryface off guard, so Eddy used that window to lunge forward with his knife. Only to hit the ground when Hungryface stepped out of the way._

 _"Firstly, good instinct, but off on your timing by a millisecond," said Hungryface, who planted his staff in the dirt. "Second, the entire story is not mine to tell."_

 _"Well she's sure not gonna tell me anything," eddy said as he got back to his feet._

 _Hungryface shrugged. "Fair enough, I suppose I can give you the short version." In a flash, Eddy was on his back, groaning in pain. When Eddy opened his eyes, he was met with the end of Hungryface's staff. "Basically," he said. "She's grounded for killing all of the werewolves in Sweden."_

 _Eddy blinked twice, processing the information. "Wait, what?"_

* * *

"Yeah, her cellphone's right in here," said Jacob as he led the eds to his room. "I thought she had forgotten it when she left for the party, so I tried to take it to her. That's when I first learned she was…well."

"We understand, sir," said Double d, who held out his hand in expectation. "The phone, please?"

"Oh right," said Jacob, who opened up his dresser and handed Double d the phone. "I'm afraid it's dead, though."

"Not a problem, sir, thank you for your assistance," said Double d as he and his friends walked out of the bedroom and out of the house.

"So," said Eddy, who walked next to Double d with his hands in his pockets. "We send this over to Royce?"

"If anyone can find what we need, it'll be him." Double d reached into his coat and produced a small capsule titled "Tech Lab". Double d walked over to the left side of the house, which casted a long shadow thanks to the noontime sun. Double d opened up the capsule, inserted the phone, and dropped it into the shadow, where it disappeared with a ripple in the shadow. Double d walked back over to his friends and rolled up his sleeve to look at his watch. "Now we wait."

Approximately five minutes later, Eddy got a call on his cell phone. "Talk to me," said Eddy as he answered the call.

"Did you really need my help for this?" asked Royce. His years working with the contractors taught Royce that he was much better help behind the action. So he transferred to the tech lab, where he demonstrated a surprising affinity for technology. "I know ya'll could'a hacked into this without me."

"What can I say?" Eddy asked with a smirk. "I love your handiwork. So, whaddya got?"

"Well, after running through everyone in Cindy's contact list, and performin some not at all illegal digging into each and every one, I managed to find one that sticks out from the crowd. Name of Dwayne Wilson. From what I can gather, he was prob'ly Cindy's secret sweetheart. Though she wasn't his only one. From what I've gathered, he likes to show off his "magic act" to chicks he woos at an abandoned train station across town."

"And you got all of this from the internet?" asked Eddy. "So this guy just posted all this incriminating crap across the web? Why aren't the police jumping up this guy's ass?"

"Deep south, kid," said the Texan with a chuckle. "Ya'll ain't exactly dealin with brain surgeons, here."

Eddy sighed. "Point taken. We'll head over there now. Thanks for the help."

"Next time, please call me when ya got a challenge." Royce hung up, and Eddy put away his phone. "Okay," he said to Double d and Ed. "Let's hit the tracks."

* * *

 _"I'm gonna kill Hungryface," said Cobalt as she rubbed her temples with one hand and downed a hot dog with the other. Eddy chuckled sheepishly with his hand behind his neck, slowly sinking into his cafeteria seat, situated across from her. "Why did you wanna know so badly, anyway?"_

 _Eddy shrugged. "Besides you giving us the cold shoulder a month ago back at the job board?" he asked. "You play yourself up like this big badass, yet I never see you leave the castle. I got curious."_

 _Cobalt munched the last of her hotdog and rested her chin on the back of her hands. "I suppose that's fair. So, what, you want a full disclosure?"_

 _"You killed all the werewolves in Sweden," Eddy said, leaning in. "That's gonna bug me for the next week if I don't hear the story behind that."_

 _Cobalt leaned back, chuckling at Eddy's outburst. "What? You want an epic tale of tragic failure?" she asked. Cobalt averted her eyes to the right, looking off into nowhere. "There's not much to say. I had a job, I failed. I had all the training, all the opportunities, and I screwed it up. And over 200 people paid the price for it, not to mention the entire country going belly up in a panic. And now I'm trapped in this castle until daddy feels that won't happen again. I've come to terms with that failure."_

 _Her voice was even, quiet, but Eddy could feel the repressed strain in her voice. "So why don't I believe you?" he asked. He regretted those words even before Cobalt gave him her famous icy glare._

 _"I see what you're doing," said Cobalt as she got up from her chair. "So I'm gonna stop you right here. I've been putting up with your whole "flirt with the cute bad girl with emotional baggage" shtick because you're pretty damn harmless, and you haven't done or said something REALLY stupid yet. Now, what you just said was reasonably stupid, but I've seen worse. I'm going to nip this in the bud before you get any ideas; I'm not your personal manic pixie dream girl with guns. I know you wanna help, but you really don't know a thing about me, so you aren't exactly qualified." Cobalt left without another word, leaving Eddy to sink back into his chair, though this time for different reasons._

* * *

Royce didn't need to specify which abandoned train station they were looking for. There weren't exactly many of them lying around New Orleans. Abandoned train cars dotted the deserted acre of land, casting long square shadows from the mid afternoon sun. Grass and weeds sprouted from beneath chipped and rusted train tracks, which creaked under the weight of the eds' boots as they made their way across the field. Eddy's eyes scanned the area from behind his black shades. "So," he said. "Where do we begin?"

"Well, normally I'd suggest the station itself," said Double d, who pointed to the building a few yards away…which was missing a roof. "But my gut tells me he's not in there."

Eddy shrugged. "Alright, start scanning." The eds activated their shades magic sensors and got to work.

The eds spread out to each take one side of the station. Ten minutes of searching finally yielded Eddy the trail he was looking for. "Gotcha," he said. One conference call later, and Double d and Ed were at his side as he neared the correct train car. "Okay, Mr Wilson, let's see what's behind door number 1." Ed grabbed the door to the train car and threw it open. All three boys practically jumped back at what they saw. The inside of the car was practically painted with magic runes and circles, each one overlapping at least two others. Eddy removed his glasses and dropped them on the ground. "Is that a fire rune?" he asked.

"Fire rune, gas rune, circle of transfiguration, a freaking circle of the seventh sister!" Double d shouted, waving his arms around frantically. "Minor spells alone, but if even one of these circles overlapped with the wrong one…"

"Boom," said Ed.

"I don't know who this Wilson mofacka is, but he is in SO much trouble," growled Eddy. "We need to call the cleaning crew, pronto-like."

"Already on it," said Double d as he whipped out his phone.

"What the-?" came a voice from behind. The eds whipped their heads around to find a black man in his late teens wearing a grey hoodie and ripped jeans, with a random teenage blonde hanging on his arm.

"W-who ah these people, Dwayne?" she asked.

The eds turned around slowly, Eddy loosening his tie. "Mr Wilson, I presume?" Eddy asked with a snarl on his lips. "We have much to discuss."

"Ah shit," cried Dwayne, who tossed his latest squeeze to the side as he ran off.

Eddy and Ed bolted after him. "Double d, call the cleaning crew! We'll handle the buttwipe!"

"Got it!" Double d said, returning to his phone.

Eddy closed his eyes and focused on the thought of Dwayne's face. Eddy then diverted his course straight towards a train car. He held out his hand, and upon the metal wall of the car came a rippling, buzzing purple portal. The signing of the document that turns one into a contractor also awakens in that person a power unique to them. In the case of Eddy, it was the ability to produce short range portals at will, so long as he knew where he was going. Eddy leapt through his portal and came out of the wall of the train station right in front of Dwayne's path. "Leaving so soon?" he asked.

Dwayne scrambled for the satchel bag that hung at his side, pulling out and flipping open his book of spells. "I'm warnin ya, man, stay back!" he yelled.

"Kid, you have no idea what you're doing," Eddy said lowly. "So give me the book, walk away, and we'll all forget this ever happened."

"Oh I'll give ya the book alright!" Dwayne screamed, holding the book in his left hand and raising up his right. Energy crackled at his open palm as he thrust it out towards Eddy. "Rakum Tora!" A burst of yellow and red fire erupted from his hand and sped towards Eddy, who stood calmly in the face of the attack. Fire exploded all over the weedy field as the spell connected, but Dwayne didn't see Eddy's charred corpse at the center of it. In fact, he couldn't see Eddy at all, on account of there now being a wall of earth in front of where he was.

Eddy stepped out from behind and leaned his shoulder against the wall. "Cutting it a bit close there, lumpy," he said with a chuckle.

"You would've been fine," Ed replied, coming up from behind the now cornered Dwayne.

Eddy shrugged. "True. Now, uh, would ya mind?" Eddy gestured to their whimpering would-be magician. Ed gave a clumsy salute and gestured his right hand to a patch of ground next to Dwayne, activating his own contractor power. Ed flung his arm to the left, commanding an arm of dirt and rock to shoot up from the ground, grab Dwayne, and slam him into a wall, pinning him there. In the process, Dwayne had dropped his book, so Eddy wasted no time retrieving it. Eddy walked up to Dwayne as he tucked the book under his arm. "So, Dwayne," he said with a crooked smirk. "Ready to talk?"

* * *

 _Eddy found Cobalt the following morning on the ramparts of the castle. From what he'd heard, this was a ritual for her, so this was a surefire place to find her. Cobalt was leaning forward on the chest high wall that stood between her and a very nasty drop, her arms crossed while her chin rested on top of them. If she had noticed him, she hadn't said anything, so Eddy slowly made his way towards her. A part of him…okay, all of him, couldn't help but take in her image. Her fiery red hair blowing in the wind, the morning sun seemingly reflecting off of it. Eddy shook those thoughts away, keeping her words to him yesterday fresh in his mind. Before Eddy could take another step, however, Cobalt spoke. "Come to apologize?" she asked._

 _Eddy darted his eyes away to look at anything that wasn't her, as his hand found the back of his neck. "Y…yeah, I am," he said. "I thought about what you said, and, and you're right. I was a jerk. Story of my life, to be honest…you'd think I'd have learned by now. But that's not the point, the point is, I'm…I'm sorry."_

 _Cobalt sighed, "Apology accepted," she said._

 _Eddy perked up, "Really? Um, thanks," he said with a nervous chuckle. Eddy continued rubbing the back of his neck, while his left foot drew circles in the ground._

 _"You're still here?" she asked, not even turning around. Though Eddy could see one of her fists clench. "What? Is this the part where I'm supposed to explain my outburst?"_

 _Eddy shot up straight, waving his hands in front of him. "What? No, not at all, you don't to-"_

 _"I accidentally poisoned the water," she said, cutting him off. "There, I said it. I was chasing after one rogue werewolf, so I coated my bullets in a poison made specifically to kill werewolves. I chased him to a bottled water factory. We fought, he tore open my poison kit, and the vial…." Cobalt took several moments to catch her breath before continuing, while Eddy rested his arms on the wall right next to her. "I hadn't even noticed it until the next morning. By then it was too late. Within weeks, everyone in Sweden who had werewolf blood was dead. Innocent people. I know we're supposed to be criminals, but I never kill someone unless they deserve it. I've been stuck in this castle for a year, and I'll be lucky if he ever trusts me again…" Cobalt returned to heavy panting to catch her breath after her outburst._

 _Eddy stayed next to her, waiting until she calmed down. "Did that help?" he asked._

 _Cobalt sighed, her shoulders slumping. "You know what? Yeah…it did."_

 **AND IT IS DONE! I am so sorry that took so long, I don't even know what to tell you guys. Inspiration just dried the hell up. But it's done, and it's twice as long to compensate! Not only that, but I'm going to make sure that 2000-3000 words is the norm from here on out. Anyway, I'll see you all next time!**


	4. The Past is Never Dead

**Welcome back, all. Before we get started, I would like to inform you all that there is actually a dark contract comic made by my girlfriend at her tapastic page, /twolfcomics. It's called Scarlet Contract, and it centers on another contractor named Scarlet during the three year gap between books one and two. Check it out, now back to the show.**

"C-Cindy?" asked Dwayne to his increasingly impatient captors.

"C'mon, Wilson," said Eddy, who walked up to the pinned teen. "Rack that pile of goop you call a brain. You know where she is."

"W-well, actually, I uh, don't-" Dwayne winced as Eddy's fist pounded into the wall next to his head, leaving a web of cracks in the stone. "I-I swear, man. I mean, I did bring her here, b-but not for the usual reasons…"

Eddy leaned into Dwayne's face. "Then why DID you bring her here?" he hissed. "And before you lie to me, just know that there are at least 23 different ways I can cause life altering damage to your body and mind right now." Eddy let a Cheshire grin spread across his face. "#17 is my personal favorite."

"Okay, okay!" Dwayne sputtered. "I-I had a few…debts to some people. They were gonna kill me unless I gave them somethin they wanted. Wh-when I asked em, they said they wanted a person. They had a human traffickin ring, and they wanted new flesh, so I…"

Eddy stepped back and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Wow…just wow," he mumbled.

"I swear I had no choice!" Dwayne shouted.

Ed turned to Eddy. "So what do we do with him?"

Eddy looked up at Ed, then back to Dwayne. Eddy pulled out his revolver and pressed its considerably large barrel to Dwayne's head. "You're gonna go to the police," Eddy growled. "You're gonna turn yourself in, and you're gonna tell them everything you know. We'll know if you did any differently, and we _will_ find you."

"E-everything?" asked Dwayne.

"Everything." Eddy holstered his gun and walked away. "Enjoy the nuthouse, Dwayne. Ed, put him down, let's go." Ed swiped his hand to the left, causing the arm of stone to crumble into dust. Dwayne landed on his butt and stayed there until Eddy and Ed were gone.

Eddy and Ed made their way back across the train yard to Double d, who was now standing in front of a completely cleaned out train car. Double d turned around to face his friends. "Cleaning crew just left," he said. "Find anything from our friend Dwayne?"

"He sold Cynthia up the river to be some crime lord's cock sock," Eddy said as he pulled out his phone. "We're gonna need to sweep all of the human trafficking channels in the city. With any luck, she hasn't been shipped out of the city yet."

"There's only one person who'd know all of that in a short amount of time," said Double d.

"And I'm looking him up right now," said Eddy, who's phone was now turned to GPS. "Looks like he's in 4th and Lancaster today." Eddy hung up his phone. "I can get there the fastest, I'll get back to you when I find something."

"We'll look up what we can in the meantime," Ed said with a thumbs up.

Eddy returned the thumbs up before creating another portal in the side of the train car. "See you both in a bit." With that, Eddy jumped through, and the portal closed behind him.

"So," said Ed. "Wanna grab some lunch?"

Double d smiled, adjusting his coat. "Of course."

* * *

The first rule you pick up when you become a contractor is that the world is WAY bigger than you originally thought, and much bigger than you. Though mankind's stumbling has all but erased their mark on the world, remnants of beings ascended far beyond human comprehension still linger to this day. Some lie in the folds of reality, preparing for their return to the mortal plain. Some have long since moved on, abandoning this universe as a lost cause altogether.

And some can be found behind the door of a bakery on 4th and Lancaster. Or at least, that's where Eddy's destination was today. Eddy stepped up to the door of "Dorian's Fabulous Fruit Pies", checking his GPS one last time. Reassured that he'd come to the right place, Eddy placed his fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. He then took that fist and knocked on the door five and one quarter times (you won't believe how long it took him to figure that one out) and said "Aperi, Culus!"

If you were an average passerby on that particular street of New Orleans that day, you wouldn't have seen the door opening for Eddy, nor Eddy stepping inside. In fact, you would've forgotten there was ever a teenager in a two piece suit standing in front of the door to that bakery. You would've just gone about your day as normal. Because, even if you aren't aware of it, some deep, instinctive part of your brain knows what just happened. And that part of your brain knows what's best for you.

As for Eddy, the door closed behind him, leaving him in the "Bizarre Bazaar". A sprawling city of boxes and crates that stretched into the horizon. Some boxes were stacked on top of each other until they towered several stories high, and others were simply just that big. Through the streets between these towering containers; clipboards, stacks of paper, and various items adorned with price tags floated about to unknown destinations. An endlessly organizing marketplace ready to supply any form of demand.

"Ah, the Vera boy," came words that seemed to ignore his ears and instead slither directly into his brain. Eddy turned around, coming face to torso with the master of the Bazaar: Lockjaw. A long, snake-like creature with equally long, bony claws for arms, no discernable legs that could be seen past the mangled disheveled rags on his body, and a gnarled, twisted, but unmistakably human face with a sewn up mouth. Lockjaw looked down at Eddy, rhythmically tapping the tips of his claws together. "It's always nice to do business with the contractors."

"Hello Lockjaw," said Eddy. "Creepy as always I see."

"As if you would expect any less," said Lockjaw, who gestured for a glass of wine to float into his hand. "So, how can I help you today? Finally come for that thermonuclear toaster oven? We're having a sale. Half off." Lockjaw held the glass to his neck, which opened its toothy maw for the alcohol to flow down.

"Actually, I'm here for information," Eddy said while reaching into the pocket of his coat. Eddy pulled out a small handful of glowing blue jewels. "I believe this will suffice as payment."

"Chrono crystals? Oh, you shouldn't have." Lockjaw gathered the crystals out of Eddy's hands and sending them away with a wave of his hand. In truth, Lockjaw already knew what Eddy had come for, and had already discerned the answer. "I have heard the name Cynthia Taylor on the minds of a local crime boss in this city. She, and many others were offered to me, but I've been keeping them on hold. Somehow I knew your company would come snooping about soon enough."

"Thanks for that, lockjaw," said Eddy with a curt bow.

"The girl is being held in a warehouse down by the docks. A pleasure doing business with you. Now get out." Lockjaw held up a bony finger to the door, which creaked open for Eddy. Eddy gave Lockjaw a wave goodbye and walked out of the store.

However, once outside, Eddy found that he was now several miles across the city. "What the-Hey, lockjaw!" But it was too late, the door closed on Eddy, knocking him down on his ass. The bizarre bazaar had moved on. "Fan-fucking-tastic," Eddy grumbled as he got up. Eddy pulled out his phone to check his GPS. He was now a good 20 miles across the city from where he'd went into the bazaar, and the GPS's of Ed and Double d put them about 50 miles away. Eddy rubbed his eyes and groaned. Too far away from where Double d and Ed were to make a portal, and it was still too bright outside to safely shadow travel there. Eddy switched his phone to the call function to ring up a taxi. "Kicking it old school, I guess…"

"Leaving so soon?" asked a figure from the alley behind him. Eddy froze, almost dropping his phone. Instead, Eddy put the phone away and turned around slowly to face the figure. Despite Eddy's internal hopes, it was exactly who he thought it was. Behind the rags and dirt and grime was the very reason Eddy was in this mess in the first place. "But we have so much catching up to do, I'd hate you to leave."

"Kevin…" Eddy snarled. Kevin let out a throaty, menacing chuckle as he drew a switchblade. Yep, Eddy still hated this shit-hole of a town…

* * *

 _During the first year of their time at Trotz,_ _there were two sure-fire places you would find Double d when he wasn't on a mission; his room or the library. Eddy guessed correctly on the latter, finding his sock-headed friend sitting at a small desk in his own private corner of the labyrinthine gothic library. Despite the echoes of the soles of Eddy's shoes hitting the tile floor, Double d hadn't noticed him come up behind him. Double d was hunched over a piece of paper, his back blocking whatever he was writing from Eddy's vision. "Yo," he said to get his friend's attention. Double d practically jumped out of his seat with a startled "EGADS!" Eddy reeled back a bit from Double d's outburst. "Um, I can come back later."_

 _Double d whipped around to face Eddy. "N-no, it's fine, really, you just startled me," he said. "Is there something you need?"_

 _Eddy shrugged. "Nah, not really. Mostly bored, wanted to see what you were up to." Eddy stood on the tips of his toes to look past Double d and see what he was writing. "Writing a letter?"_

 _Double d swerved back around and threw himself over the paper. "O-of course not," he sputtered out. "A-and who would I write to, if I was?"_

 _Eddy cocked an eyebrow, crossed his arms, and tapped his foot. Double d sighed and dropped his head. "I was…writing a letter to my parents," he said. Before Eddy could warn him about the rules against such communication, he continued. "I know we're not allowed to, that's why I don't send them. But I…I miss them so much, okay?" Double d turned back to the desk and stared longingly down at the letter below him._

 _Eddy laid a hand on his friend's shoulder. "I know I…I miss my folks too," he said._

 _Double d didn't look up, merely continuing to stare at the letter. "We're fugitives back home, Eddy," he said quietly. "No matter how many times I say it out loud, it doesn't feel any more real."_

 _Eddy pulled up a chair and sat next to his friend. His hands laid limp on his knees as he searched for something to say. "Well," he finally said. "If we're lucky, they'll give up and move on with their lives."_

 _"Some of them, maybe," Double d practically whispered. "Others aren't that lucky…"_

* * *

After a year and a half of being trapped in the armpit of Louisiana, abandoned by everyone he knew and a failure in his goal, here was his prize, just standing in front of him, in his alley, in a two piece suit. His black hair was neatly combed and a groomed moustache crowned his lips. But it was him, undeniably. Kevin circled around Eddy slowly, waving his blade around. "You've done well for yourself," he said.

"Wish the same could be said about you," Eddy replied as he loosened his tie and cuffs.

Kevin chuckled. "Yeah, the little dorky's moved up in the world."

"Meanwhile you're still the same entitled jerk-off jock as ever, only now I believe the outside matches the inside." Kevin lunged forward, holding the tip of his knife against Eddy's cheek. The little bastard didn't so much as flinch. If anything, Eddy looked bored. "Can we hurry this up? I have actually important stuff to take care of."

"You have some nerve calling me a bastard," Kevin growled. "I'm not a murderer like you. At least, not for another few seconds!" Kevin drew back the knife and thrust it at Eddy's torso. Before Kevin could even register what was happening, he was thrown against the wall of the alley. Kevin shook his head to realign the planet, but when he looked up, he only found the barrel of a very large revolver greeting him.

"Wow," said Eddy. "I actually used to be afraid of you." Eddy pressed the barrel closer against Kevin's head, pushing his head against the wall. "Like I said, I have important stuff that needs doing, so I'll be brief: Give up. Give up on me, double d, and Ed, and go home. I'm fully aware of what I've done, but it's out of both our hands now. The best thing you can do is forget you ever knew me." Eddy holstered his pistol in his coat and pocketed his hands as he walked away. "It's over Kevin. Goodbye."

Kevin forced himself to his feet, not content to let 3 years of searching and suffering go to waste, now that the goal was finally right in front of him. "Jimmy is dead because of you," he said. Eddy stopped, but did not turn to face him. "And for that, I will hunt you to the ends of the earth."

Eddy turned his head halfway to him. "I know…" With that, Eddy walked out into the street, right as a taxi pulled up to meet him. Kevin could only watch as the man responsible for tearing his life apart stepped into a cab and drove away, leaving him in a cloud of smoke.

Kevin's legs gave out from under him, sending him down on his butt. He watched as the cab drove further down the street and rounded a corner, disappearing from view. His hand, in the process of trying to push him to his feet, found a decently large discarded shard of glass laying on the ground. Kevin looked down, seeing his reflection in the glass. For the first time in years, he took a really good look at himself. Kevin almost felt like chuckling.

He failed years ago. The memo just arrived late…


	5. Contractor, not Hero

**And here we are again. Let's back to it! (also, I will be making references to Scarlet Contract as I see fit, as it is in canon with the story. So if you want to know more, please follow the link from the previous chapter and give it a read)**

 **Also, here's the thing. I have officially begun work on making dark contract an official, original book to be published and sold. So updates are gonna be slower, and if the story outright stops, that's why. But don't fret if that happens. It just means you'll get to see this adventure in a whole new way. Anyway, enjoy!**

No matter where one may go in the United States of America, no matter what obscure, hidden little armpit they may find themselves in, the classic ma and pop diner is generally considered a safe haven. A place for good food and better company to take you out of the rain.

Not exactly the place one would expect to find two dressed-to-the-nines, incredibly dangerous servants of a supernatural gangster. But hey, a good burger is a good burger.

Double d sank his teeth into his burger, occasionally stealing a glance at his wristwatch. Close to an hour, and still no Eddy. He'd gotten a text a few minutes ago from his friend stating that the bizarre bazaar had dropped him off halfway across the city, but that was 45 minutes ago. "So," said Ed, breaking Double d from his thoughts. "Heard from Scarlet? Jayjay?"

Double d rolled his eyes as he swallowed. Their two senior contractors were two of the most aloof and elusive women on the planet. If Scarlet didn't want to be found, there was nothing anyone could do about it. "When did I become that woman's keeper?" Double d asked.

Ed shrugged, taking another bite from his burger. "I wath jus wonderin," he said with a full mouth.

"Ed, please swallow. Job or no job, you remember your training." Ed gave his own roll of the eyes before swallowing. "Now, you were saying?"

"I was just wondering, that's all." Ed placed his burger down on the plate.

"If she were to contact anyone besides the boss, it would be Eddy. And he'd warn us if they were coming back."

Ed shrugged again, grabbing a fry. "Suppose that's true. Still, can't help but wonder what she's been doing."

"Whatever it is, it's pissing off somebody, somewhere," said Eddy, who took a fry off of Ed's plate from double d's side of the table. "Guaranteed."

"Ah, good, you're here," said Double d, putting down his burger. "What kept you?"

Eddy shrugged, popped the fry into his mouth, and propped his feet up on the table. "Got a bit sidetracked, nothing worth talking about."

"Did Lockjaw help out?" asked Ed.

Eddy smirked and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. "Got it all written down here. Ms. Taylor is currently being held in a warehouse down by the harbor, making her the guest of one Isaac "The Robot" Torrance."

"Heh, Isaac, robot, I get it," chuckled Ed.

"And I'm not sure whether I should be surprised or not that you do," said Double d dryly.

"Anyway," said Eddy. "From what I hear, The Robot's having a deal tonight. I say we crash that party."

"Sounds like a plan," Ed chimed in.

"I suppose violence was inevitable," Double d sighed as he wiped his mouth clean. He turned to the waitress with a raised finger. "Ma'am, check please?"

* * *

 _Ed's thoughts in order as consciousness crept back to him: Ow. OWWW. Anyone get the number on that explosion? And finally; ….I'm hungry._

 _Color washed back into his focus and piercing screeches turned into the sounds of hospital machinery. Technicolor blobs slowly realigned themselves into focus, revealing the sanitized white of the castle infirmary, and his two friends' smiling faces staring down at him. "Hey lumpy," Eddy said as quietly as he could, grinning through the bandages on his face. "Knew you'd wake up."_

 _Ed smiled as best as he could before attempting to get up. Only for his back to say "NOPE", sending Ed back down to the bed, groaning in pain. Double d put his left hand on Ed's shoulder, as his right arm was in a cast. "Don't make any sudden movements," he said. "You've been out for three days, and the doctor says you've got at least a week to go before you're okay to move."_

 _"But then, that tends to be the best case scenario when you take an RPG to the face," Eddy said with a shrug._

 _"I put up a wall," Ed said through a dry throat._

 _"And that's the only reason you're alive," said Double d. "Now, get some rest. We have to go on a mission, we'll be right back." Ed flashed a thumbs up as his friends stood up to leave. Eddy returned the thumbs up as they walked out, while Cobalt walked in past them._

 _After exchanging hello's to the other two, Cobalt walked up to Ed's bed. "Hey tiny," she said with a mirthful smirk. Ed managed a grunt and a light wave. Cobalt crossed her arms and shook her head. "An RPG, I hear. Took one for the team." Ed turned his head away from her, staring off into space. "You could've died, you know."_

 _Ed casted a sidelong glance at Cobalt. "Your point?"_

 _Cobalt sighed and shook her head again. "Nothing, I guess," she said, turning to leave as well. "You're too good for this job, tiny."_

 _Ed choked out a chuckle as Cobalt left, leaving Ed alone with his thoughts._

* * *

A warehouse is never truly abandoned. Unless the whole thing had long since fallen apart, someone would always find a need for a big spacious empty building that everyone ignores. Something Isaac Torrance knew all too well . Isaac got the moniker "The Robot" from more than just his first name. He was a tall bony man with blocky edges and a bald head that practically glistened in the light. Every move he made was janky and robotic, as if his gears had yet to be oiled for the past few months. He pulled out a pocket watch from the inside of his coat, checking the time to be 7:55. The client was due to arrive any minute now. He turned to one of his assistants and snapped his fingers. The goon immediately perked up and ran off to fetch the girls being sold tonight. Another minute of waiting passed before the large door at the front of the warehouse opened with a metallic groan. A large white truck rolled into the warehouse and up to Mr. Torrance. The truck stopped in front of him, and its inhabitants stepped out. The two men who approached Mr. Torrance looked like the sort of goons one might absentmindedly reduce to chunky salsa in a video game. They stopped in front of the gangly gangster, all slouches and smirks. "You got the goods?" asked one of the goons.

Isaac smirked himself. "Don't I always?" he asked. He pointed behind him with his bony thumb. "They're in the basement. About 20 girls, each between 14-20, like we agreed."

"Splendid," came a new voice from behind the truck. Out stepped Eddy, with Ed and Double d close behind him. "We'll take 'em. All of them."

The two goons whipped around, drawing their guns and aiming at the three. "Who the fuck are you?" one asked.

"Above your pay grade, son," said Isaac, who downed both of them with his pistol, previously concealed in his coat. Isaac holstered the pistol and approached Eddy, extending his arm for Eddy to shake. "Apologies. I was unaware the contractors had a stake in this."

Eddy smiled politely and took the offered hand. Anyone high enough in the criminal underworld knew who the contractors were, so Isaac's attack came off as no surprise. "We were contracted to find a girl who you now have in storage. On the way here, we figured we may as well take the rest while we're here."

Isaac tugged at his suit collar, a bead of cold sweat slithered down his brow. "I uh, I see," he said. "Just the one wouldn't have been an issue, but to take all of them would set our operation bac-"

"I'm waiting for the part of your explanation that tells me why I should care, is it gonna take much longer?" Eddy asked, his grip on Isaac's hand tightening ever so slightly.

"Your contract only said one girl, yes?" Isaac replied. "Why do you want the others? The contractors don't deal in human trafficking."

"You're right on that front," Eddy shot back with a shrug. "But, well, over 3 million men and women in the contractor organization, and you got saddled with the three with a conscience. Bad luck, Mr. Roboto." Eddy released his hand from Isaac's and placed them in his pockets. "Now, we can do this the easy way, or the way that ends with you and everyone else in this warehouse being turned to paste." Eddy's grin grew across his face. "Oh wait, that _is_ the easy way."

Isaac's fist tightened to the point where his nails almost drew blood. Every fiber of him wanted to shout downstairs for his goons to come up and fight the three teenagers. But then all of those fibers were silenced by one singular fact: even if he did manage to kill them, more would come. And there would be nothing he could do, then. So, Isaac dropped his head and sighed. "They're downstairs. Just tell the guards that I gave you permission."

"Glad we could come to this agreement," said Eddy, who patted Isaac on the shoulder as they walked by. The eds made their way downstairs through a normally concealed hatch in the northwest corner of the warehouse.

The underground storage room was lit only by one hanging light bulb, and reeked of mud and excrement. There was one metal door, with two armed men guarding it. The men stepped forward, and were swiftly pacified. From the guards, Eddy swiped the key to the cell door, which he used to send the thick metal door creaking open. Inside were exactly 20 young women, many of whom cowered and huddled against the wall. Some crept up behind Eddy with emptied metal waste buckets, preparing to bring them down on the three's heads to give the others time to escape. "You can put down the buckets," Eddy said without even turning around. "You're all free to go. Mr. Isaac has seen the error of his ways, and has released you. Return to your families and forget this night ever happened." The eds stepped out of the way of the door, and Eddy gestured to the doorway. The girls wasted no time and immediately ran for their lives. As the crowd dispersed out of the room, Eddy saw their target. A young blonde with tattered clothes and a mud covered face who ran for the door like the others. Eddy promptly stepped in her way. "Just a moment, Ms. Taylor."

Cynthia growled and attempted to push Eddy out of the way. Eddy responded by taking her by the shoulders as gently as he could in an attempt to calm her down. "Easy, easy. It's alright. We're here to take you back to your father."

Cynthia looked up at Eddy in disbelief. 'W-wha?" she tried to say through a dried mouth.

Double d took over. "Your father Johnathan never gave up hope for you. So when the police didn't help, he turned to our organization to find you and return you to him." Double d smiled a warm smile and placed his hand on her shoulder. "It's over, you get to go home now."

Something in Cynthia made her believe these men, despite her having no real reason to. So, Cynthia gave a slow nod, and Ed threw his coat over her back. "C'mon," said Ed. "Let's get you home."

The four returned to the upper levels, where they found the other girls being led out by other contractors, disguised as police officers. Well, most of them. The older women (the ones who were about to attack Eddy, fitting enough) were in the middle of lynching Isaac with conveniently acquired baseball bats. Which the standing by contractors were more than happy to replace for the girls when they broke one. The eds merely led Cynthia out of the warehouse, stopping just long enough for Cynthia to spit on her former captor's beaten and bloody corpse. The lights of the city, even nearby street lamps, seemed so far away to Cynthia. Their light seemed to be banished from this one section of the city. Her escorts stopped in the middle of the road with her, where there was practically no light at all.

And then, in a moment of sensation similar to being dropped into a pool of water, she opened her eyes to see her home in front of her. Sobs caught in her throat as a smile stretched across her face. Cynthia fell over twice as she bolted for the door to her house, shouting for her dad all the way. Johnathan threw open the door when he heard the shouting, and Cynthia leapt into her father's arms.

Eddy allowed himself a smile. _It's good to be the good guys for a change…_ he thought to himself. He turned around, seeing a black limo waiting for them, and the eds began walking to the car. "Wait," Cynthia called out to them. "Thank you, thank you so much. You're real heroes, you know that?"

Eddy sighed, dropped his shoulders, and turned around to stare Cynthia right in her eyes. _Well, it was fun while it lasted_. "I wouldn't call us heroes just yet, ma'am," he said, pulling out a dark pair of shades to put over his eyes. "In exchange for our services, your father offered our company his very soul. What does this mean for you? Nothing, for a while. But when your father dies, his soul will be transferred to us. Forever." Cynthia turned her head to her father, who merely closed his eyes in somber recognition.

Eddy followed Double d and Ed into the car, closing the car door behind him, but leaving the window cracked open. "Cherish the years you have left, Cynthia. Once he's gone, he's ours." With that, Eddy rolled up the window, and the black limousine disappeared into the night.

Double d had his head placed on his chin, glaring out at the passing city outside. "Just when I thought we could've been the good guys…" he murmured.

"Don't sell yourselves short," said Ritter, who appeared from the shadows covering the seat across from the three. "You saved 20 women, when you were only contracted to save 1. Most of your peers would've let Isaac have the others. I'd call that a rather heroic move, myself."

Eddy looked up at Ritter. "Yeah, that reminds me," he said. "You're gonna return those girls to their homes, right?"

"Certainly," said Ritter. "We don't deal in flesh, remember? However, a contract or two will be offered, for them to accept or refuse to their liking." Ritter smiled at the boys. "Now then, chin up, would you? You're really bringing down the mood of this dimly lit black limousine. Double d and Ed, you two have earned yourselves some time off to spend around the castle as you please-" Ritter then turned his attention to Eddy. "-however, Mr. Vera, the master wishes to speak with you and Cobalt first thing tomorrow morning. He has a…personal assignment for both of you."

Eddy perked up. "Wait, does this mean Cobalt ain't grounded anymore?"

"Temporarily. For this mission. If she proves herself, the master has promised to let her off the hook." Ritter's eyes then went narrow with deadly focus. "So please do not endanger that."

Eddy gulped. "Y-yes sir."

Ritter immediately returned to his jovial smile. "Splendid, well, I'll be off then." With that, Ritter disappeared back into the shadows.

Eddy sat back in his seat, looking up into nothing. "What do you think this job is?" asked Ed.

"Guess I'll find out tomorrow," Eddy replied before closing his eyes to catch up on his sleep. Another reason to hate this town: it drained him like nothing else…

* * *

Even if Kevin had the capacity to care where he was walking, he still wouldn't know where he was. The street was deathly quiet, and completely deserted. With nary a hooker or hobo to be found, Kevin was completely alone.

Or, so he thought.

"They're infuriating, no?" came a voice from the alley next to Kevin. Kevin spun on his foot to see who it was. From the alley stepped two men. To call them twins wouldn't do justice just how identical the men were. Both were between heavyset and obese, dressed in a white button-up shirt and suspender combo, and without a single lock of hair on their heads. The only difference between them, as Kevin learned when they stepped closer to him. Was that one had green eyes, and the other had blue.

"W-who…?" asked Kevin, internally wondering whether or not he should run.

Blue eyes looked at green. "I don't think he knows that much, bro," he said. Green eyes slapped his head. "Crap, you're right, bro." Both sounded exactly alike, making it hard for Kevin to keep up with which was talking. One draped his arm across Kevin's shoulders. "Sorry about that, we'll start from the beginning if you'd like."

Kevin practically jumped back. "What I'd like is for you bastards to leave me alone," he said with a glare.

The two looked at each other before looking back. "Fair," they both said. One then produced a pamphlet from his pocket and placed it in Kevin's hand. "My name's Jim, my brother is John," said Jim with a smile. "We just wanted to let you know that the circus is in town."

Kevin looked down at the pamphlet in his hand, which read "Cirque De Nocturne". Besides the title, the cover of the pamphlet was completely black. Kevin looked back up at Jim and John, who were walking down the street. "We'd love to see you there," one of them said. Kevin gave chase to get more answers, but Jim and John rounded a corner, and were gone by the time he caught up.

 **And that's another chapter done! Man this took way longer than it should've. But here it is. Again, if updates just stop altogether, it's only because I'm working on the official version of this story. Luckily, that version won't be done until at least a year after graduation, so you're not getting rid of me that easy. See you all next time! And be prepared, cause next time the plot starts kicking in ;)**


	6. The Cirque de Nocturne

**And here we are again. Let's get right down to business**

Generally speaking, Kevin hated the circus. No real reason behind it, no childhood trauma, nothing that would make him swear to the clown god Boffo that he would eviscerate all who knelt at his shrine. He just hated the smell, how crowded they were, and generally the whole feel of circuses.

He also despised clowns. May Boffo have mercy on their souls.

However, the flyer he was handed the previous night promised free food, so Kevin felt he could bite the bullet for one evening to get some corn dogs in his belly. So here he was, staring up at the oddly decorative sign that read "Cirque de Nocturne" which was given a warm aura by the lights of the circus behind it. Kevin stuffed his hands into his pockets and walked in.

The Cirque de Nocturne felt like stepping into the past, to a time when it was considered just gosh darn swell to prance society's undesirables around like they were show ponies. The only difference was that the smiles on the faces of the various performers seemed almost genuine. Dotted around the big blue and white circus tent in the center was a variety of stands and booths, where people lined up by the dozens to be scammed out of their money by rigged games or to knowingly and willingly poison themselves with fried foods that should never have been fried in the first place.

Then again, what right did he have to talk? Kevin thought to himself as he downed the last bite of his deep fried chocolate bar. They could've been selling baby toes a la mode and his stomach would have found a way to convince him to eat.

Throughout the night, Kevin would occasionally find himself near two or more overly chatty customers. This was how Kevin learned what little there was known about this circus. Apparently the cirque de nocturne popped up exactly three years ago and had been traveling North America and parts of Europe ever since. The reason Kevin had never heard of this circus before was because this was their first show in New Orleans, and while they were the talk of the media and internet for a while, Kevin lost his Wi-Fi around the same time as when they first appeared, and sold his phone altogether not long afterward. From what he'd been able to gather, the cirque being so reminiscent of early 1900's freak shows had not gone over well with a lot of people. At least at first, anyway. Whenever an activist made a complaint about the alleged cruel treatment of the people who work for the circus, them and any associates they had would wind up dead or missing. With, of course, no evidence traceable to the circus or its enigmatic ringleader "Amadeus".

Enigmatic didn't do justice to just how mysterious the Cirque de Nocturne's founder was. Everyone knew his face of course, as he always made a personal appearance during the main events. However, his birth date, social security number, country of origin, and every other element that modern society utilized to deem that a person well and truly existed was non-existent. And the man himself wasn't saying a thing. You'd think this would get him into some kind of trouble, but any authority who'd be expected to look further into that sort of thing was strangely disinterested in the whole business. "The man's harmless" they'd say, waving it off and following it up with a scoff.

Did Kevin find this all really, _really_ fishy? Of course he did. But, again, free food. And things like "suspicion" tended to wane in the face of hunger. So Kevin settled on stuffing himself as much as he could, swiping as much food as he could carry that wouldn't spoil later, and bolting for the city once no one was looking. However, fate had other plans.

"Ah, I knew you'd show up!" said an all too familiar voice from behind Kevin. Jim's (or John's) arm draped over his shoulder, while the other one pointed lazily at his brother. "Didn't I tell ya he'd come for sure?"

"You did indeed, bro," said John (or Jim, but lookie there I've gone cross eyed) who turned his eyes to the teen in his brother's grasp. "Enjoyin the show?"

Kevin squirmed his way out of the large meaty arm and backed away a step or two. "I'm enjoying the food," Kevin replied.

"Then you're gonna love this offer," said Jim. "We talked to the boss, and he wants to meet you, personally."

Kevin took another step back. "That so?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.

John lightly shoved Jim. "Way to come off as a serial killer, bro," he said. John turned to Kevin and smiled. "Look, I get it, so I'll be straight with ya."

"That'd be a first," chuckled Jim.

John ignored Jim and continued. "We told the boss your situation, and he wants to offer you a job. Big carnival, needs lots of hands to keep it together. You seem like a strong guy, you just need some food in your gut. We can give you that, steady pay, and much more."

"Or," said Jim, who leered at Kevin. "Would you rather stay in this rat-hole of a city?"

John shrugged. "Your choice, mate." John extended his beefy hand to Kevin, waiting for him to take it.

Kevin looked down at the hand, then back up at John. "Why me?" he asked.

John shrugged again. "Why not?" he replied. "But in all seriousness, we dunno. Ask Amadeus, when you meet him."

Kevin's eyes drifted back down to the hand extended before him. With a deep breath, he shook John's hand. "I'm in."

* * *

When Cobalt smiled, Eddy's entire world lit up. Now, it had to be a very specific smile for this to happen. Not a mirthful or devious smirk, not even the smile she got after a successful experiment (as adorable as that smile was). What Eddy had in mind was an ear to ear grin of pure, unfiltered bliss. The kind you see plastered on the face of a Broadway musical lead after proclaiming his love for the heroine via song.

Such a smile only graced the Contractor heiress once before, as far as Eddy remembered. The last time was two years ago, when she was finally given permission to roam the outer areas of the castle property again, Zephyr trusting her enough that she wouldn't bolt for the hills the moment the opportunity arose. Cobalt's cheeks practically dimpled, and she wasted no time stretching her legs. Since then, Cobalt had expanded her greenhouse to encompass much of the grounds outside the castle, where she spent most of her days grooming her exotic and strange plants.

That smile had returned full force today, and Eddy knew exactly why. After 3 years, Zephyr had finally let Cobalt off the hook completely for one mission. If she proved that she could handle the responsibility again, she'd be cleared for active duty again. As backup, Eddy and Ritter were being sent with her, which told Eddy that whatever Zephyr was pitting his daughter against was gonna be a hell of a lot bigger than a missing girl in New Orleans.

Which brings us to right now, with Eddy in Zephyr's office, Ritter to his left, Cobalt to his right, and the boss himself sitting across from them behind that infernal desk. His fingers were linked together, with his chin resting on top. His blue eyes drifted between the three. Eddy was always nervous when Zephyr let him sit there and stew for a while. Ritter, unperturbed, was looking at his pocket watch, waiting for his master to get on with it already. Ritter was the only one who could get away with that kind of disrespect. Even Cobalt, while not dropping her lovely smile, was stock still and watching her father intently. "So," said Zephyr, finally breaking the tension. "I have a job for you three."

"I already informed them of that fact, sir," said Ritter, who pocketed his watch.

"This is a completely independent operation. No contract, no client. Just you three." That part got Eddy and Cobalt to perk up. To say this was out of the ordinary would be to compete for understatement of the year. The contractors got their name because they follow contracts, and little else. While there was the occasional act of independence, the last recorded occurrence of this was several hundred years ago. And the recording itself boiled down to "this is a thing that happened that doesn't usually happen with us." And that was from the contractor library, the people who should know exactly what it was.

Eddy looked over at Ritter, only to find him still completely unfazed. Either he knew about this from the get go, or has lost all ability to give a fuck. Or both, it may be both.

Zephyr cocked an eyebrow before continuing. "Did that get your attention?" he asked. "Lovely. Now, your mission, and you _will_ accept it, is to head down to Tokyo, Japan, and retrieve an item of considerable…interest to our organization." Zephyr held out his right hand, and from its open palm came a small plume of black smog which formed into the shape of a black and grey Samurai Kabuto. The mask on the front displayed an almost demon-eques face, whose eyes practically glared all three of them right in their very souls. "This is the Kaze no Kaji, an ancient samurai kabuto said to hold the spirit of a very angry wind god. Until recently I had written it off as lost to the memory of time. Thankfully, the University of Tokyo did the work for us."

Eddy pursed his lips and cocked an eyebrow. "So you're sending the three of us on a glorified grocery run?" he asked.

"It's been stolen," was Zephyr's reply, joined by one of his famous icy glares, which shut Eddy up quickly. "And to make matters more complicated, it turns out that the legend surrounding the Kaze no Kaji are very real. Whoever has stolen that kabuto has been possessed by the spirit within. And it is still very, _very_ angry." Zephyr dissipated the kabuto's image and pulled out a manila file. The file opened as he dropped it on the desk, revealing the pictures of about five Japanese businessmen. "All these men had one thing in common before they died: they were each in charge of the Japanese branch of different foreign corporations." Zephyr brushed the pictures aside, revealing new photographs, this time of each man's crime scene. The men in the second group of pictures were damn near unrecognizable to their photos, all of them resembling what would probably happen if one were to drop a filet mignon into a blender. Other pictures of the crime scenes showed that their houses weren't much better, as if a twister had run through them. If that twister had a katana. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say that the Kaze no Kaji isn't too pleased with his country 'bowing to foreign businesses', and now he's gone on a rampage."

"So, find this guy and take him out, snag the helmet, right?" Asked Cobalt.

"If only it were that easy," said Zephyr. "The Kaze no Kaji is smart enough to know how to evade detection. Whoever is wearing that helmet isn't wearing it all the time. And whoever it is, he or she clearly has some access to these corporations, since the businessmen are the only ones he's killed." Zephyr pushed the file across the desk and brushed the last photos out of the way, revealing three first class plane tickets. "You'll have to infiltrate the Japanese upper crust and start your search there. If you can't find him, your new identities will ensure that he will inevitably come to you."

Eddy, Cobalt and Ritter took the small files containing their new identities. Upon opening them, Eddy grimaced. "Oh joy…" he mumbled.

"Above all else, the Kaze no Kaji is not to come to harm," Zephyr said, his voice far more firm than before. "Kill the wearer if you must, but do _not_ destroy the helmet."

All three gulped, even Ritter, and then nodded in understanding. Zephyr smiled. "Good, now, your plane leaves in an hour. I suggest you get going."

"We won't let you down, Dad," Cobalt said as she stood up.

Zephyr's smile took on a slightly more compassionate tone. "Of that, my dear, I have no doubt."

Cobalt returned the smile and, followed by Eddy and Ritter, walked out of the office.

* * *

Kevin was lead behind the big top in the center of the circus, to a small doorway on the other side from the main entrance. In front stood a bulky bouncer, who, with a polite smile, stepped out of the way and welcomed the three through the door. Inside was a small dressing room, where performers were being covered in makeup and dressed in their gaudy outfits. Both of which had a pitch black gothic aesthetic to them, designed in a way to reflect both fright and fun. Jim spoke up. "Anyone seen the boss?" he asked. "We got that kid he wanted to meet."

"He's in his office, I'll take him," said a new voice from behind the performers. The man made his way over, and Kevin inspected the newcomer. He was a short, stocky man dressed in a dark purple waistcoat that seemed just a smidge too big for him. His golden hair was neatly smoothed to the left, and his chunky face dimpled as he smiled. "Evening, sir, my name's Frederick," he said with a smooth baritone followed by an extending of his hand. "The boss wants to speak to you personally, I'll show you to his office."

Kevin was taken aback by the manners of this Frederick, but he wasted no time in taking the offered hand. The shorter man dragged Kevin with surprising ease across the dressing room and through the halls, eventually leading them outside the tent again, and in front of a lavish carriage with the circus' logo emblazoned on the sides. "Here we are," said Frederick. "He knows you're coming, so just head on in. As for me, I have some last minute preparations to make, so if you'll excuse me." With that, Frederick turned on his heel and walked back into the tent, leaving Kevin alone, looking up at the door to the carriage.

Kevin shrugged and reached out to knock on the pine door. "Come in, my boy," called a voice from within. Kevin pulled his hand back almost instantly. After a second, he reached out again and grabbed the door knob, opening the door.

* * *

"So, remind me again, WHY am I a butler?" asked Eddy as he tugged at the collar of his new suit. "Also my usual suit was fine, why do I need this one?" The three had boarded their first class airplane bound for Japan, but sadly, really tight suits made for very uncomfortable flights, even if the seats were fine Corinthian leather.

"Because shortstack," said Cobalt as she lounged in her seat, legs crossed, and wine glass in hand. "The alternative cover was that you were my brother, and not only do we look nothing alike, I know you'd just hate that. As for the suit, the one you're wearing doesn't have 20 concealed weapons in every inch of its person. We can't very well complete our mission if you get arrested at the airport, can we?" Eddy sunk back into his chair, grumbling. Cobalt revealed her pearly whites in a toothy smirk. "I'm surprised you're complaining so much. Haven't you always wanted to go on a big mission with yours truly?"

"Yeah. But in my fantasies, we didn't have the third wheel," Eddy replied, pointing his thumb back at the door to the pilot's cabin, where Ritter was flying the plane.

Cobalt chuckled and set her glass to the side. "Look at it this way," she said, leaning forward and resting her forearms on her thighs. "Here's your chance to _really_ impress me. No more showboating and trusting that I take your word for it, time to show me just how much of a badass you really are." Cobalt had leaned further, until she was face to face with Eddy. "Think you can handle it?"

Eddy smirked. "Oh, I think I can manage," he said, slowly moving his hands to her sides. Only for Cobalt to grab him by the tie and tighten it like a noose.

"Awesome. By the way, your tie was too loose. I fixed it," she said, pulling eddy closer by his tie. "Listen pipsqueak, I wanna make something clear. If we botch this up, if _you_ botch this up, Daddy probably won't ever clear me for field work ever again. If that happens, there is no magic in this world or any other that will protect you from me. Understood?" Her eyes had turned completely glowing blue, to the point where there were the makings of glowing cracks branching out from her eyes. Eddy gulped and choked out a "yes ma'am". Almost instantly, the glow disappeared from Cobalt's eyes and she returned to her seat, beaming at him. "Awesome! Just needed to make sure that was clear. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight." Cobalt returned to her wine (coughcoughfruitjuicecoughcough) while Eddy was frozen to his chair, his butt cheeks irreparably clenched.

Something told him this was gonna be a loooong mission…


	7. Welcome to the Family

**Welcome back, let's get down to business!**

If entering the Cirque de Nocturne itself felt like stepping into the early 1900's, entering the personal carriage of its ringleader, Amadeus, was like being sent even further back in time. From its rustic wooden floors, to the hand carved patterns on the walls. The place was even candle lit by a small chandelier above. Kevin instinctively kept to the well-lit areas of the room, as if scared that something lived in one of the many shadows. Kevin was broken out of his thoughts when he stubbed his toe against a blood red armchair that he could've sworn wasn't there a second ago. "Take a seat," said Amadeus from behind his small oak desk.

Kevin, though hesitant, sat in the _marvelously_ comfortable chair. He almost didn't notice when the chair turned on its own, faced Amadeus' desk, and then slid forward until it rested right at the edge. Kevin's hands clamped down on the arms for support, only letting go when he was certain that the chair was done moving. Amadeus chuckled. "Apologies for that, m'boy," he said in a voice as smooth and warm as soup running down your throat. "I just always love doing that." Amadeus set a quill he'd been using to sign paperwork back in its ink well. His hands linked together, while his thumbs twiddled with childlike excitement that almost matched his pearly white smile. "So, have you been enjoying the circus?"

Kevin, taken aback by the friendliness of his boss-to-be, took a second to answer. "Uh, it's pretty cool, ya know, all things considered," he said with a nervous shrug.

Amadeus reached across the desk, grabbed Kevin's hand and shook it furiously. "Wonderful! Does that mean you want the job?"

The old man's handshake shook Kevin up and down along with his hand before he managed to wretch himself free. "Well, you make a convincing offer, and I don't really have anywhere else to go, so…"

"Splendid, I'll just draw up the paperwork and-"

Kevin held up his hand to stop him. "One thing though: why me? I mean, out of everyone, why me?"

Amadeus perked up and looked back at Kevin. "Why, because you've seen them of course," he said. "The contractors."

"The…?" Kevin said before the gears clicked into place. _Eddy._ "Is that what he is?"

Amadeus nodded solemnly. His smile disappeared. "Indeed. The contractors are an organized crime syndicate, specializing in crimes of the…supernatural persuasion. You're enemy has been taken under the wing of the contractor's leader, a wicked man named Zephyr Seraphim. I'm afraid that, as you are now, there is nothing you can do to hurt him."

Kevin's fist clenched, and he glared daggers at the old man in front of him. "So I'm just supposed to give up?" he growled through grit teeth.

"Not at all," Amadeus replied calmly. "In fact, that's why I wanted to bring you aboard. I need someone with your brand of conviction for a little project I'm putting together."

Kevin cooled down slightly, leaning on his knees to pay better attention. "What do you mean?"

Amadeus stood up and straightened his bright red ringmaster coat. He grabbed a purple top hat off the hat rack next to his desk. He walked out from behind the desk, revealing a pair of bright green pants. Red, purple and green. The man was a walking eyesore. "Perhaps the explanation would be most effective if I introduced you to your new friends." Amadeus held out his hand to Kevin, helping him out of the chair. "Please, follow me." Amadeus led Kevin out of the carriage and back to the big top.

* * *

The first day in Tokyo was uneventful for Eddy, to say the absolute least. Nothing but standing around "Looking cute" as Cobalt described it. Meanwhile Cobalt did all the meeting and greeting, pressing the flesh, and browning of noses. How Ritter managed to stand stock still outside of generic meeting room after generic meeting room every day for god knows how long, let alone a single day was beyond him. All those etiquette classes the butler had put him double d and Ed through hadn't prepared him for the crippling boredom of it all.

Thankfully, the day finally came to a close with the three being shown to the hotel they'd be staying at. Cobalt, of course, got the penthouse suite at the top, while Eddy and Ritter were given rooms nearby. The two maintained a mutually agreed silence for most of the night. But some questions demand to be asked.

"I don't get it," said Eddy, who was in the middle of changing into his sleepwear on one side of the room, while Ritter changed on the other. Neither looked back at the other. "Why are we doing this job ourselves?"

"Beg pardon?" asked Ritter.

"I mean, I get why Zephyr wants it gone; people knowing about magic and shit is bad for business. But why are we doing this without a contract? What makes this thing so damn special that we suddenly decide to play superhero?"

"It's quite simple, Eddy," Ritter replied as he finished changing. "That question is above your pay grade. The master wants it, so we shall retrieve it."

Eddy scoffed as he finished changing. "What isn't above my fucking pay grade?" he asked, turning around. Where he was then greeted with the sight of Ritter, in bunny pajamas. "There are things I didn't need to see. This is one of them."

Ritter huffed. "Everyone's a critic." He turned on his heel and walked to his bed. "Get some sleep, Edward. Today was a taste, tomorrow is the main course."

"Oh joy…" Eddy grumbled before turning off the lamp.

* * *

Cobalt wasn't sleeping.

Quite the opposite, in fact. Cobalt was vigorously training in the spacious living room of the penthouse suite. Her training consisted of shadow boxing, stretching, and throwing knives at the various targets she'd set up around the room.

It is here that the author realized that he's gone one book and several chapters without explaining why Cobalt's eyes glow bright cobalt blue. After rightly slamming his head against the nearest brick wall, he decided to rectify that mistake here.

Cobalt's glow came from her contractor ability: Death Perception.

Put simply: imagine, if you will, that you could see every single way to kill a person in front of you. Whether it be with your fists, your feet, or whatever you have on you at the time, you'd see precisely how to bring harm to the human body in as precise a manner as possible. This power made Cobalt capable of mapping out an entire fight in the seconds before it began.

That was then, however, and no power, no matter the strength, can pick up the slack of three years spent on the proverbial bench. Not that Cobalt refrained from training all that time, but as any recruit coming back from their third or fourth mission will tell you; there isn't a form of training around that can prepare you for real contractor work.

Yet, Cobalt continued her training through the night. During which she made time to hide various rifles, shotguns and pistols throughout the suite. In this line of work, a smidge of paranoia went a long way. Besides, there wasn't enough room in the closet.

Only when the morning sun peeked over the Tokyo skyline and crept in through her windows did Cobalt finally collapse from exhaustion. She had run herself utterly ragged with her nonstop training.

All she could do now, was hope it would be enough.

* * *

"And this car is where the cast sleeps," said Amadeus, who gestured to the painted metal train car door. Kevin walked past Amadeus and opened the door with a metallic groan. Inside were Jim, John, Frederick, and an assortment of other performers. All of whom turned to look at the new arrival. Kevin was practically slapped by a wall of curiosity, suspicion and disinterest.

Jim and John rushed over to Kevin, pounding their hands against his back. "Glad you could make it," they said in unison.

Amadeus smiled at the crew. "Young Kevin here will be working for our circus for the foreseeable future. So do try to make him feel at home." Amadeus turned and walked out of the car. "I have some business to wrap up, so I will see you all in the morning." With that, the door closed behind him, sealing Kevin in with his new coworkers. Before Kevin could even chuckle sheepishly, his hand was shaken vigorously by a small patchwork zombie monkey with a shrunken head attached to its waist…

You heard me.

"Uuuuuuh…" Was all Kevin could manage as the monkey continued shaking his hand well past the point of being uncomfortable.

"Zippie, that's enough," cried the shrunken head. Zippie shrieked at the head, but let go of Kevin's hand, which hung perfectly in place.

"UHHHHHHH…"Kevin continued, louder.

Jim and John chuckled to each other. The head sighed. "Zippie, hold me up." Zippie unhooked the shriveled green head from its waist and held it up so it was looking directly at Kevin. "I imagine you have questions." While most shrunken heads had their lips sewn shut, this one's hung limp, due to its lack of a jaw. Regardless, its lips moved and contorted exactly as they should, forming words laced with a refined Italian accent effortlessly.

Kevin nodded slowly. "I uh, I got a few, yeah."

The head was lightly bounced up and down by Zippie, who was holding the head by its oily black hair. "I don't blame you. Let us start with the pleasantries: I am Doctor Victor Frankenstein. This, as you may have gathered, is Zippie." Zippie let out another shrill shriek. "He says hello."

Kevin shook his head rapidly to realign his thoughts. "Waitwaitwait, Victor Frankenstein. As in-"

"The very same," Victor interrupted. "As you can see, I've…been better."

"The boss apparently found him the way he is during one of his voyages before setting up the circus," said Jim. "He's been with the boss longer than all of us combined," John chimed in.

"The second longest would be me," said Frederick, who approached Kevin to shake his hand. "I am Amadeus' assistant. I handle all of the work he doesn't feel like doing…I am a very busy man."

Kevin chuckled nervously before Frederick led him around the car, introducing him to the other crew members who were present. While shrunken head Frankenstein was easily the weirdest thing Kevin saw that night, it was not for lack of trying on the parts of the others.

There was a juggler named Bubba who claimed to have been in the American civil war. According to Jim and John, he made a similar claim about the war of Mesopotamia in 2700 B.C (the first war ever recorded) when he first came to the circus, and has been going up ever since. The twins were quite curious as to what he will do when he inevitably caught up.

There was a clown named "Joker", called such because of his bleached white skin and unnaturally red lips. Ironically, Joker was considered by most of the crew to be the pinnacle of sanity among them, as well as a staunch pacifist.

And then there was Carl…Moving on.

By the time Kevin had been introduced to everyone currently in the car, the train had begun creaking with movement. "Ah, sounds like it's time for bed," said Frederick. "Rest well, everyone, lots of work to do tomorrow."

"Wait," said Kevin. "Last I checked, all the stuff was still outside."

Frederick shrugged. "The other workmen cleaned it all up. This is your first night, so you get to take it easy."

Jim nudged Kevin's shoulder. "Don't get the wrong idea though," he said. John chimed in. "Tomorrow, you get a much needed bath and then we put you to work."

Kevin sighed. "Yeah, a bath sounds cool right now."

Frederick tossed Kevin a pillow. "Until then, get some rest. And welcome to the family."

Kevin smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. "Heh, thanks man." Kevin found a bunk and crawled in. Frederick grabbed a long hook off the wall and used it to retrieve the candle that hung from the ceiling. "Goodnight, all." Frederick blew out the candle with a quick puff of air.

* * *

The CEO Zephyr suspected the Kazi no Kaji would go after next was a hotel mogul named Shiri Yutakana. Yutakana-san was holding a party that night, in celebration of his wing of the company rising in success (due to his competitors being reduced to chunky salsa). The perfect place for an assassin to hide, so, through a mix of bribes and forging of documents, Cobalt managed to score her Eddy and Ritter an invitation.

Now, if only she could get ready in time for her own plan, Eddy thought to himself as he rested against the wall adjacent to the door of her room. "It's only been five minutes," said Ritter, who sensed Eddy's frustration. "Have some professionalism."

Eddy rolled his eyes and looked down at his wrist watch. Eddy could've sworn that the second hand was deliberately going slower just to spite him. "Hey, Eddy," cried Cobalt from inside. "Can you come in here for a second?"

Ritter cocked an eyebrow at Eddy, who quickly straightened his tie and cleared his throat. "On my way, ma'am," he said, donning his outward appearance as Cobalt's loyal butler. He opened the door just enough to slip inside, and closed it behind him.

Inside, he found Cobalt, standing with her back to him, wearing an elegant jet black dress that stopped just below her knees. The back of the dress hung open, only halfway zipped. "Mind zipping this up the rest of the way for me?" Cobalt asked.

"Yes ma'am," Eddy said just a tad too fast as he walked towards her. Every fiber in his being was focused on keeping his eyes trained on the back of the heiress' head, rather than her exposed upper back. However, he had to look in order to zip up the dress. So Eddy, for about two seconds, allowed himself to take in her toned porcelain skin before it was hidden behind black silk. Eddy stepped back and gave Cobalt a curt, butler-esque bow. "There you have it, madam."

Fortunately for the contractor heiress, Eddy hadn't caught her pink tinted cheeks before Cobalt managed to choke them down. Cobalt composed herself with her usual smirk and turned around. "Thank you Eddy," she replied with a nod.

Eddy, though managing to keep his jaw in place, still stared at Cobalt like a kid in love. Cobalt chuckled. "Oh come on. We've sent you to these kinds of parties plenty of times, you must've seen a girl in a dress before now."

"Yeah," said Eddy, who retook control of himself. "Not you though."

The pink returned to her cheeks. And this time it brought all its friends. Cobalt cleared her throat to compose herself and walked past Eddy. "Well come on then, short stack. We have work to do."

Eddy gave another bow. "Yes ma'am." Eddy and Cobalt walked out of the room together, rejoined with Ritter, and made their way downstairs to the lobby, where their car was waiting.

A part of Ritter wanted to point out to the two that, along the way, their arms had linked together. But seeing Cobalt's smile as they walked made Ritter keep silent.

What Zephyr didn't know won't hurt them, after all.


	8. Coming home to roost

The long black limousine pulled up to the front of Yutakana-san's estate, located at the base of Mt. Fuji. Yutakana-san was known for his love (yeah, that's a good word for it) of western gothic architecture, and it certainly showed in his home. However, his love of gothic architecture was akin to the love a western cartoon animator had for Japanese anime; loving something did not immediately translate into knowing how to do it yourself. Cobalt, who had grown up around such an aesthetic all her life, nearly coughed up a lung with laughter at the sight of the estate, which resembled something out of a Tim Burton movie…a _bad_ one. A tacky gargoyle here, a warped window there, you get the idea.

"Just once I want a job with normal people," Eddy grumbled. He turned and watched Cobalt stifle back another laugh. "You finished?"

Cobalt stood up straight, pressed her palms together in front of her face and took a deep breath. After three more breaths, she nodded. "Okay, I'm good. Let's go." Cobalt walked past Eddy and up the steps of the estate, followed close behind by her two "butlers".

The mansion only got tackier the further in the three went. And from the look of the faces of the other gathered business men and women, they weren't the only ones forcing down yelps of laughter. Didn't help that Yutakana-san himself, a short, portly man with hair that he probably stole from Donald Trump during their previous outing together, which mainly consisted of burning $100 bills on the steps of the Red Cross, was nothing short of completely convinced that his home was the envy of his friends.

"Ah, Miss Seraphim," said Yutakana as he parted the crowd to get to her. Cobalt put on her best smile and the two exchanged bows. "It is so good to finally make your acquaintance."

"The feeling is mutual, Yutakana-san," said Cobalt.

"I'm surprised your company is going through with their plans to set up shop in Tokyo, given the…recent troubles."

Cobalt chuckled. "My father is not one to be so easily intimidated by psychopaths who wish to hold back their country's futures to sate their own isolationist paranoia. And neither am I." Cobalt's smile grew slyer by the minute. "Congratulations on your recent success, by the way. These murders have certainly been quite convenient for you."

Yutakana scoffed and chuckled nervously. "What are you insinuating, Ms. Seraphim?" He asked.

Cobalt looked Yutakana straight in the eyes for a full three seconds before laughing. "Nothing, sir, just wanted to see your face," she said. The music coming from the P.A system, previously a dreary, lilting piece of background noise, became something more upbeat and dance-worthy. "If you'll excuse me for a moment, I see a plate of shrimp that's calling my name."

"Enjoy the evening," Yutakana said, waving her goodbye.

Cobalt made her way to the food table, where Eddy and Ritter were remaining inconspicuous. "Well?" asked Eddy, who gulped down his shrimp.

"He's not behind this," Cobalt answered.

Eddy chuckled. "What, your eyes can see liars too?" he asked.

"Maybe if you paid attention during our classes, you'd know how to spot one too," Ritter chimed in.

"The point is that he's unconnected to the murders, so he probably is next on the chopping block."

"So what do we do?" asked Eddy.

Cobalt walked to the table and poured herself a glass of punch. "Simple, we blend in and observe."

Eddy cleared his throat and held out his hand to Cobalt. "Well, in that case, Ms. Seraphim, would yo-"

"My I have this dance?" asked another man, cutting Eddy off by offering his own hand. Eddy looked to his right to find a Russian man in his early 20's with a combed mop of blonde hair and a winning smile. Eddy looked over at Cobalt, and his heart practically dropped into his feet when he saw not only the light blush on her cheeks, but the look of familiarity in her eyes.

Eddy regained composure. "U-um, friend of yours, Ms. Seraphim?" he asked.

"You could say that," said Cobalt, who smiled as she took the man's hand. "And I'd be delighted." The Russian led Cobalt to the dance floor, shooting Eddy a quick smug smirk that the contractor wanted to rip off his face and shove up his ass.

Ritter walked up next to Eddy. "Who?" Eddy asked through gritted teeth.

"Dimitri Walker," said Ritter. "Born in Russia, 1994, to Albert and Patricia Walker, who died under mysterious circumstances days later. The baby officially died with them."

"And unofficially?" Eddy asked as he downed a glass of punch.

"Dimitri is a junior assassin working for the Knives of Caesar." Ritter winced as Eddy spit out his drink. Eddy whipped his head around to Ritter.

"The Knives?" He asked, just barely keeping a hold on his panic. The Knives of Caesar were an assassin group that dealt in the same circles as the contractors. During their contractor exam, Eddy and his friends ran afoul of one of their members, named Mimi. Mimi had been sent to kill every new recruit taking part in that exam. The only reason the Eds survived was because Mimi spent four straight days without sleep taking out every other recruit, and just happened to find them last. And even then, if it hadn't been for sheer dumb luck, she would've killed them too. The scariest part was that later, they were told Mimi was just out of training herself, and was a cakewalk compared to her peers.

"You don't need to worry," said Ritter. "If whatever mission Dimitri is on would bring him into conflict with us, we wouldn't have seen him."

Eddy glared out into the crowd, seeing Dimitri twirling Cobalt to and fro, his hand just a tad too far down her lower back. "So why the dance?"

Ritter, though far calmer than Eddy, still showed open disgust as the following words left his mouth. "They have…history." Eddy smashed his glass in his hand. Ritter simply patted the boy on the shoulder as he fumed.

* * *

"So the old man's finally letting you off the hook, hm?" Dimitri asked as he led Cobalt across the floor.

"If I complete this mission without killing hundreds of people," Cobalt answered. Cobalt moved along with Dimitri, matching his steps beat for beat.

"That explains the supervision." Dimitri took a short glance at Eddy, who was threateningly eating shrimp at him. "So, who's the stiff?"

Cobalt smirked. "New guy we picked up 3 years ago. He's lasted longer than I thought he would."

Dimitri dipped Cobalt back and leaned in close. "Is that a hint of pride in your voice?" he asked.

Cobalt chuckled. "Maybe, but enough about me." Cobalt grabbed Dimitri by his tie and pulled herself up to his ear. "Why are you here?"

Dimitri chuckled under his breath. "Is it so hard to imagine that I missed you?"

"Yes."

Dimitri huffed. "Fun as ever, I see. I was sent here to kill our exalted host. But from what I hear, I may not be needed, so I'm just gonna have some shrimp, maybe dance with a beautiful young lady, and then be on my way."

"Well, if all goes well for us, Yutakana-san will survive the night, so you may want to hold off on leaving." Cobalt released his tie, and Dimitri lifted her back up to her feet.

"Need any help?" he asked.

Cobalt put her hand on her hip. "Wouldn't that go against your contract?"

Dimitri gently took Cobalt's hand and kissed a knuckle. "Yutakana can go ram it, but this guy slices up anyone who gets in his way. You may need more than two toughs to keep you safe."

Cobalt cocked an eyebrow and gently, but firmly, pulled her hand away. "I think I'll be fine, thank you." Cobalt began walking away, but Dimitri grabbed her hand, stopping her.

"3 years apart and that's it?" He asked, pulling her back.

Cobalt was shocked, to say the least. Dimitri was an assassin, and thus not exactly a great guy, but he had never grabbed her like that before. She looked past Dimitri, seeing Eddy walking through the crowd to help her. Cobalt subtly raised her hand to stop him, and gave him a quick reassuring wink. Eddy, though hesitant, nodded and stopped in place. Cobalt returned her now glowing blue eyes to Dimitri. "Dimitri. Let. Go." She said slowly.

Dimitri kept his foolish smirk as he put his other hand on her shoulder. "Don't act like you haven't been looking forward to seeing this face again," he said.

"What the hell's gotten into you?" Cobalt asked, pulling her hand out of his grip.

"Sake, mostly." Dimitri reached out to grab her again. "Come now, lovely, you know you want this." Eddy's eyes widened, and the small crowd that had gathered to watch the display grew deathly quiet. None of them knew Cobalt, but they knew just by looking at her that this was the _last_ girl you should ever say that to. Yutakana, who had been gesturing for nearby security, just held up his hand to stop them.

"Dimitri," Cobalt growled as she grabbed his hand with the force of a steel claw. He didn't look scared. If anything, his face was a complete blank. As if his brain was sending a signal that wasn't being received, yielding no reaction. Cobalt couldn't bring herself to care, as she was already lighting up her eyes. Not enough to draw any real attention, but enough to show her that even an assassin like Dimitri had weak spots. Three quick punches; one to his rib cage, one to his right shoulder, and finally, one to his left upper thigh. Dimitri would've collapsed on the ground then and there, if Cobalt hadn't then proceeded to grab his arm with both hands and throw him over her shoulder, past the crowd, and into a wall. The impact caused two nearby pictures to fall from the wall, one of them hitting Dimitri in the head. Cobalt dusted off her hands. "Bite me, Ruski."

Dimitri awoke with a pained chuckle. "What a woman…" He said before noticing the three security guards standing over him, with Yutakana behind them.

"Men, firmly escort this young man off the premises," Yutakana said with a snap of his fingers. The burly guards grabbed Dimitri and dragged him out of the ballroom. Dimitri gave out one last shout of "call me" to Cobalt before the guards threw him out the door.

Eddy and Ritter approached Cobalt from behind. "Odd,' said Ritter. "Dimitri has never behaved in such a way before."

Eddy ignored Ritter and, hesitantly, walked a bit closer to Cobalt. "You okay ma'am?" he asked, keeping his butler façade.

Cobalt huffed and turned to face Eddy. "Yeah…just pissed," she said.

Yutakana walked up to Cobalt and bowed. "My sincerest apologies, Ms. Seraphim. We looked over the list and he wasn't on it, I don't even know how he got in. Rest assured, we have thrown him out and we are calling the police."

Cobalt returned the bow, forcing a smile. "There is no need to apologize, Yutakana-san," she said. "You have been a most gracious host, and I thank you for removing that nuisance."

Yutakana stood up with a smile. "Please, enjoy the rest of the party." With that, Yutakana turned around and walked off, shooing away the other guests that had gathered around the three.

Cobalt walked past Eddy. "Where you off to?" Eddy asked.

"Garden," Cobalt replied. "I need to punch something in peace." Cobalt stormed out of the ballroom.

Eddy and Ritter looked at each other. "You wanna go after her or should I?" Eddy asked.

"I will have a word with her," said Ritter. "You stay here and keep an eye out."

"Yeah, got it," said Eddy, who watched Ritter walk after Cobalt. Eddy grumbled to himself under his breath. He really wanted that dance…

* * *

There are a variety of different reactions one can have to seeing their senior officer get thrown through two brick walls and being embedded in the one directly in front of you. Shock, fear, laughter (if you are the especially kooky type) etc. Definitely near the bottom of that list of reactions was rolling your eyes and groaning. The absolute bottom was to strip naked and do the chicken dance, but that tends to apply to most things.

Regardless, that was Double D's reaction to finding Hungryface two feet deep in a wall after being tossed through two adjacent walls, which led straight to the training yard. The reason why was quite simple: Scarlet was back.

"The funny thing is, I think that's the same wall I put you in last time!" shouted Scarlet as she climbed through. Scarlet (no last name) was two things: 1. Anger issues in a black mini skirt, and 2. almost a complete reversal of Cobalt in every possible way. Chocolate brown skin offset by glowing red eyes and bright blue hair that hung in front of the left side of her face. And while Cobalt always kept her emotions under strict discipline, Scarlet…did not.

"Actually, I think you were a bit off to the left from the last place," Hungryface replied with a chuckle, knocking dirt out of his ear by tilting his head and banging on the other side from the ear.

"Well, there's always next time," said Scarlet. The two shared a hearty laugh, neither noticing Double d standing mere feet away.

"Glad to see your utter disregard for the structure of the castle hasn't changed," said Double d, making himself known.

Scarlet turned to look at him, flashing the lanky man a toothy smirk. "Ol sockhead" she said as she walked over to pat him on the shoulder. "It's been, what, two years?"

"Two and a half, actually," said another familiar voice from down the hall. Scarlet's companion Jayjay made her way over to the group, having opted to take the long way rather than the direct route Scarlet made. Jayjay was what would happen if you took a sack full of the cutest puppies you could think of (yes, the ones you're thinking of right now) and neatly stacked them on top of each other and then topped it all off with a bowl cut of dirty blonde hair, resulting in a pyramid of concentrated, weaponized adorable. Though, like Scarlet, she was a good 3 years double d's senior, Jayjay looked perpetually 14. Jayjay smiled at Double d. "Eddward, it's so good to see you," she said.

Double d returned the smile. "I'm happy to see you remain in good health, both of you," he said. "What brings you back to Castle Trotz?"

Scarlet shrugged. "We were in Germany, just felt like stopping by," she said. Scarlet put her open hand above her brow and looked around. "So, where're the other two stooges?"

"Eddy's off on a mission with Cobalt, and Ed is probably in the cafeteria," said Double d.

Scarlet looked back at double d, slightly surprised. "What, they finally let red off the hook? Nice." Scarlet pounded her fists together with an ear to ear grin. The veins along her fists pulsed with red energy. "Shame she's not here, I've been dying to have a crack at her again."

Double d took a quiet half step back. The energy came from Scarlet's contractor ability: Phadreon. Phadreon was a rather interesting anomaly among the contractors, given that its main draw was its ability to negate contractor powers. It had other uses, as pulses of destructive red energy tended to, but the ability to deactivate contractor powers by its presence alone was definitely its main hook. Not that this was a worry for Double d, but it was still worrisome nonetheless.

Such as with Cobalt, it was here that the author realized he went this long without explaining the anomaly that was Double d. One of these days that brick wall is going to collapse what with the author constantly banging his head on it.

Put simply; Double d didn't have contractor powers. This was due to a one-in-a-bazillion event known as a "glitch". Wherein the physical capabilities of a contractor are given (slightly enhanced strength and durability) the unique ability that typically comes from signing the contract does not. Why this was so nobody knew. And if Zephyr knew he didn't feel like sharing. So, while Double d was probably in no danger from phadreon's presence, he still felt instinctually averse to it. "Well, I'm sure when she comes back she'll be more than happy to oblige you," Double d said with a nervous smile.

Scarlet draped her arm over Double d's and jayjay's shoulders. "Well I guess I'll have to settle on Ed then," she said. "Cmon, let's go find him." Scarlet and Hungryface made their way down the hall, with a groaning Edd and a resigned Jayjay in the former's grip.

 _Let the madness begin…_ Double d thought to himself.

* * *

Ritter found Cobalt by following the sound of smashed stone. Thankfully Cobalt had waited until anyone outside had returned to the party before she started breaking things. Ritter wasn't too worried, as a simple phone call to the personal affairs department would have these stones replaced before anyone could notice. What did worry him, however, was his charge's emotional state.

Cobalt and Dimitri had the fortune of having the same taste in adventures, so throughout her career, Cobalt would often encounter the charming knife of Caesar. Ritter had met him as well more than a few times, and while he didn't necessarily care for the boy, this behavior was brand new. Luckily, he had gotten an answer on his way.

"I spoke with Royce on my way here," he said from behind Cobalt, who was busy throwing pebbles that were once much larger stones at nearby trees. She heard him, but didn't acknowledge his presence. "I had him do a background search on Dimitri for the last 3 years." Ritter sat on an unbroken stone near Cobalt. "2 years ago, a job gone awry resulted in him damaging his frontal lobe. The chemicals in his brain that create fear have been greatly reduced, which also means a lack of impulse control."

Cobalt stopped throwing rocks. Her arms fell limp at her side and dropped the small collection of pebbles from her palm. "Was that supposed to make me feel better?" she asked him. "It's just another thing for me to regret." Ritter's head tilted, confused. "I could've been there…if I hadn't screwed up like an idiot in Sweden, with my luck I would've been with him on that job and I could've…" Ritter appeared next to Cobalt and placed his hand on her shoulder. Cobalt's fists clenched as tight as they could without drawing blood.

"Cobalt…" said Ritter, who desperately searched for something else to say. Before he could continue, however, screams erupted from the building, and lights went out across the house. The two whipped around. "Seems the Kaze no Kaji is making its play." Cobalt wasted no time replying as she sped past him toward the house.

This time, she wouldn't fail. Never again…


	9. The Kaze no Kaji

Yutakana-san's henchmen had taken their boss upstairs the moment the lights went out. Every door they closed behind them after reaching the top floor was reinforced with steel, and every window was made of solid polycarbonate (the strongest plastic in the world, commonly used for bullet proof glass). Every hallway had at least seven heavily armed guards, with three stationed on the left wall, and four on the right. Any ordinary person wouldn't even dream of making it through these defenses. But what was now in that house was anything but.

Eddy, through use of shadow travel, appeared inside Yutakana's office, behind a large potted plant safely out of view of the five guards and Yutakana himself. The office was connected to a backup generator, so there was still light in the room. Yutakana was in the center of his five guards, who watched the door and windows, guns trained. "Have you called the police?" asked Yutakana.

"They're 8 minutes out," replied one of the guards. "Just stay with us, sir."

"Don't have to tell me twice." Yutakana curled up into a ball on the ground.

Eddy looked around the room for any possible entry points to the office. There was a large window behind his desk, reinforced, and secured with steel bars. The door was reinforced like the others, and probably heavily guarded on the other side. And on top of all of that, the Kaze no Kaji hadn't killed anyone else besides its target, so it obviously wasn't a fan of the direct route. But was its aversion to killing beyond its target a moral code, or simply the focus of an assassin? Just as Eddy was getting deeper into this train of thought, he was broken out of it by one of the guards shouting, "What the fuck is that?!" Eddy whipped his head around to look out the window, where he saw it. That black and grey kabuto, now on the shoulders of a matching suit of samurai armor. It floated up in front of the window, brandishing a katana's hilt, but no blade. The Kaze no Kaji swung the hilt in several directions in front of the window, slicing small, clean incisions in the window that would stop most bullets. With a thrust of its hand, the window blasted open, sending spears of sliced plastic/glass alloy into the room. Eddy dived out of the way and covered his head, but three of the guards weren't so lucky. One of the three foot glass spears ran right through the first one's neck, the second guard got three to his chest, and the third got one in his eye and right into his brain. All three fell to the ground, dead before they landed.

The Kaze no Kaji landed in the office. The remaining two guards, armed with standard issue rifles, opened fire on the intruder. It was then that Eddy saw where the blade was on its hilt. A cyclone of wind burst from the hilt and flew out in front of him. The bullets were slowed down to a complete stop by the force of the wind, falling harmlessly to the ground. The guards dropped their guns and ran to the door, only to be consumed by a surge of wind. When the wind dissipated, all that remained were two skeletons and a wall covered in shredded clothing, blood and skin. Eddy had to stop himself from losing his lunch all over the very nice carpet.

And then there was Yutakana-san. Still in the fetal position, shaking in abject terror from the monster that was slowly approaching him. Yutakana looked up in time to see the black and grey samurai looming above him. "P-please, please don't…" he whimpered. "W-what did I, what did I-I ever do to you?"

There was no response, only the raising of his blade. Eddy scrambled to his feet, pulled out his large revolver, and opened fire. The bullet tore through its target's hands, and knocked the hilt across the room. The Kaze no Kaji looked at its hands, which were covered by the armor as it repaired itself. It turned to look at Eddy, who gulped audibly. Then, the door to the office was kicked down, and every guard on the floor poured in, guns drawn. They took one look at the scene, and immediately opened fire on the kaze no kaji. Eddy jumped out of the crossfire, leaving the samurai to take every bullet. The rounds tore through the leather armor and the flesh underneath. Every guard kept firing until their guns were empty. The samurai fell back onto the ground, seemingly dead.

Yutakana-san slowly stood up, still shaking from the experience. The other guards helped him keep balance. The billionaire grabbed onto one of the guard, close to tears. "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou," he choked out.

Eddy knew from just minutes ago that that wouldn't be enough. Luckily, besides a few minor dings, the kaze no kaji was miraculously intact. The artifact had to be the source of the samurai's healing abilities. So, Eddy quickly crept up to the bloody corpse, and started unfastening the helmet. However, before he could get it completely off of whatever poor sod it had been driving around, one of the guards grabbed Eddy by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "And what the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

"Lemme go jackass!" Eddy shot back, forcing himself out of the man's grip.

"Wait, I know you," said Yutakana. "You're Ms Seraphim's butler. How in blazes did you get up here?"

Eddy smiled sheepishly at the dozen glares that had him frozen to the spot. "Would you believe I snuck in here by moving through the shadows around the mansion?" he asked.

"No," was the unanimous reply. Lemony Snicket once said that the best way to keep a secret is to tell it to everybody, but act like you're kidding.

Eddy really wanted to punch Mr. Snicket in the dingle dongle.

Then, the body stirred. Everyone looked down in abject terror as the armor repaired itself over the bullet wounds. The kabuto inched its way back onto the head, the straps refastening themselves under the jaw. The guards frantically searched their persons for any remaining ammo, Yutakana scrambled for the door to get as far away from the office as possible, and Eddy just backed away slowly, pulling back the hammer on his pistol.

The guards, realizing that they were all out of ammo, turned to simply kicking and punching the samurai while he was still down. The Kaze no Kaji simply summoned its hilt back to its hand and called forth another blast of wind. All seven guards were reduced to chunky salsa finely spread across the room. The Kaze no Kaji turned back to Eddy, who was slumped against the wall, covered in the blood of various guards, frozen in fear. The Kaze no Kaji heard the screams of his target as he ran down the hall. He simply raised his hilt and sent a blast of wind that turned the corner down the hall. With a final scream of " ** _OHGODNOOOOOOO!_** " the blast found its mark.

With its blade turned away from him for a brief window, Eddy took the chance to raise up his revolver and unleash a contractor's true secret weapon; the Shadow Shot. A bullet charged with pure dark magic. While 3 years ago, Eddy could only manage one shot every few hours without risk of blacking out, he'd since learned to hone the technique more effectively. Something he planned to make the Kaze no Kaji all too aware of. The barrel of his revolver coursed and crackled with black and purple electricity, and the four exposed bullet chambers shone beams of purple light. His opponent turned back around just in time to see a large orb of purple and black energy gather at the end of the barrel. "Shadow Shot!" Eddy shouted, pulling the trigger and letting the energy fly.

* * *

Cobalt and Ritter stepped out of the shadows that covered the top floor hallway. What they found was less than promising, as blood soaked the carpet right outside the main office, whose doors had been knocked down. And right at Cobalt's feet was the mangled and ripped body of Yutakana. Cobalt looked back up at the door to the office. "Eddy's in trouble," she said, and the two took off to the door. Just in time to hear Eddy shout "Shadow Shot!"

Cobalt skidded along the stained carpet as she tried to turn around. Luckily, Ritter grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into another shadow just as the blast burst from the office and filled up the hallway.

The two flew out of the shadows into the now empty ballroom. The guests had swarmed out of the building once the gunshots were heard from upstairs. Their united screaming combined with the screeching of tires and the pounding of car horns could still be heard from the echoing ballroom. The blast from Eddy's shadow shot had shaken the house to its core. Debris fell from the ceiling, which was growing more and more cracked by the minute.

Ritter and Cobalt skidded along the ground before coming to a full stop. They both groaned in pain as they sat up. Cobalt's head shot up in panic as the realization dawned on her. "Oh god, Eddy!" she shouted. Then, from behind her, one of Eddy's purple portal rippled to life on the wall with an electric buzz. Eddy burst out from the portal back first, bouncing and skidding on the floor before coming to a stop against Cobalt's back. Cobalt whipped around to look down at Eddy. "Y-you're alive!" she said.

"Yeah," said Eddy, dazed. "Did you catch that? Cause I am NEVER doing that again."

"I should hope not," said Ritter as he stood up. "We'll be able to cover this up, but it will take some effort." Ritter then turned to Eddy with a calm but menacing glare. "And the Kaze no Kaji?"

Eddy broke out in a cold sweat under the butler's gaze. "Well I uh," he sputtered out before perking up. "Hold on, I gotta close my portal." Eddy forced himself to his feet and turned around to where his portal had opened. Only to see the Kaze no Kaji stepping through. Its body, exposed from the blast knocking off most of its armor, was a charred, broken, bloody mess that shambled through the portal faster than Eddy could close it. When Eddy did close the portal, the closing iris sliced off the Kaze no Kaji's already mangled foot. It fell flat on its face, pooling blood all over the tile. But before the three could do anything, the armor once again started healing, this time actually replacing its missing right arm and left foot. The Kaze no Kaji stood up and brandished its sword, ready for more.

And as Eddy, Cobalt and Ritter stood back up to face this seemingly unstoppable monster, Eddy thought back to his earlier question; the Kaze no Kaji had, up until now, only killed its intended target. Was it a moral code or an assassin's focus?

 _Focus,_ Eddy thought to himself as he loaded his revolver. _Definitely focus…_

* * *

Ed was a simple man, and this much was obvious. Despite his new surroundings, that fact had hardly changed. He hadn't reeled from the contractor life like Double D had, but he also hadn't fully embraced it with the reckless abandon of Eddy. Like with everything, the big lug rolled with the punches. So, when Scarlet approached him, itching for a fight, a fight Ed knew he would probably lose, Ed shrugged and said, "Okay."

Thus, here he was, standing shirtless in the courtyard fighting ring. The ring was around the same size as your typical boxing ring; a small wooden fence boxing the two in joined by two sets of iron bleachers. A small crowd of contractors, including Double D and Jayjay, occupied the bleachers. Scarlet was the talk of the castle whenever she showed up, due to her long and frequent absences. So when it got out that she was going to fight someone, practically half the castle came to watch.

Speaking of which, Scarlet herself stood across from Ed, having switched out her mini skirt for a pair of baggy shorts and a sports bra. The two had their fists wrapped in exercise tape for protection, but that was the only padding the two had. Ed towered over the bluenette, who was ironically almost 3 years his senior, by almost a foot. Despite this, Scarlet's "I got this" smirk hadn't wavered a bit. And Ed was smart enough to know that she wasn't being cocky. "So," said Scarlet as she stretched. "You've been a busy lump."

"The gym is the only fun place in this castle," said Ed. "That really shouldn't be but there you go."

Scarlet chuckled. "And people wonder why I don't come back often." Scarlet put up her dukes and charged her fists with radiant red phadreon. Scarlet's smirk grew into a full grin, flashing her pearly whites. "So c'mon, tiny, thrill me."

Ed started off the fight at a distance, summoning two large rock hands to shoot out and fly towards Scarlet. Scarlet threw out her arms and released a wave of phadreon to meet the rock hands. The energy passed through them, removing the contractor magic that gave the earth life, which caused them to fall to Scarlet's feet in a pile of dust and rocks. However, they managed to get close enough to Scarlet to kick up a cloud of dirt when they hit the ground, which ended up in her eyes. Scarlet's eyes squinted from the dirt and she went to rub them clean. Which gave Ed enough time to launch himself at Scarlet on a pillar of rock. He drew his fist back, aimed at her face, but when he went to punch, the bluenette grabbed his fist and stopped him in his tracks. "Yeah, not likely," she said. Scarlet then turned around, putting Ed's arm in both hands, and threw him over her shoulder and across the arena, where he landed head first against one of the wooden beams, breaking it in half.

The crowd roared in adoration of Scarlet, who blew kisses to her adoring public. Ed, meanwhile, pulled himself up to his feet, panting heavily. Keeping at a distance until the proper moment was officially out. Now the only way left was the old fashioned way. Especially since now Scarlet was coming to him. Ed put up his arms just in time to block one of Scarlet's kicks. Scarlet, in turn, kicked off of Ed and backflipped away. Once landing, she fired another wave of phadreon at Ed. Ed quickly raised another wall of earth to block the attack, but the phadreon simply ate through the rock and broke it down into dust. Ed was left completely vulnerable to Scarlet, who launched herself forward and slammed her fist right between his eyes. Ed was sent flying back, smashing through the wooden railing and bouncing along the ground before coming to a complete stop.

Double d and Jayjay shared a facepalm as the crowd erupted into cheers once again. As usual, Scarlet overdid it.

Scarlet put her hands on her hips and laughed. "Not bad, tiny, not bad," she said. "You lasted a lot longer than last time, at least. C'mon I'll treat ya to a drink." Scarlet turned around to greet her adoring public once again.

Ed, meanwhile, was lying face down in the dirt, waiting for the feeling to return to his everything. _I wonder if Eddy's having any fun…?_


	10. Best Laid Plans

**I'm BAAAAAAACK! Again. Not making excuses this time, I've just been super busy. So let's just get to it.**

Eddy was not having fun.

He was not having fun at all.

He stared across the ballroom floor at the kaze no kaji as it approached. Cobalt had stood up and pulled out a small pistol she had concealed under her dress. But looking up at her, this woman who's visage he had equated with capability and dominance for so long, Eddy saw something: hesitation. Perhaps, dare he even think it; _fear_. Her hands were shaking, her eyes were narrowed and glowing a brighter blue than he had ever seen. If she were a less composed woman, her knees would've probably been buckling in the presence of this feudal japan otaku's answer to the terminator. Despite this, she wasted no time taking aim.

In the split second before she pulled the trigger, her powers sent her brain a detailed blueprint of the kaze no kaji. Specifically the mangled mess of a body that it was driving around. While the head was undamaged for the most part, the body was torn to ribbons. Despite that, however, the kaze no kaji still stalked up to them with its armor practically spotless. Which brought a key detail to her attention; there were limbs missing. While the armor walked like nothing was wrong, underneath the right foot had been severed (lost due to Eddy's portal) and his left arm was gone. From this, Cobalt determined 2 things: 1. It was safe to say whoever had stolen the kaze no kaji initially was thoroughly dead, and 2. As long as it had the head to work with, the kaze no kaji could just keep rebuilding its armor. Cobalt knew what needed to be done. She diverted her aim to the kaze no kaji's left knee, unloading 3 of the pocket revolver's 4 shots. All three hit their mark perfectly, and the kaze no kaji fell to its knees. Its leg was now a bloody mess, completely crippled, and because it hadn't been cut off altogether, it couldn't sufficiently replace the limb enough to get back up.

Cobalt put the last bullet in its hand to knock its sword across the room. Without missing a beat, she turned on her heel, grabbed Eddy by the hand, and bolted for the window, Ritter following close behind. Cobalt leapt through the window feet first and dived into a shadow cast along the marble courtyard floor. It was 3 am on a new moon night, so shadows were in abundance. However, a shadow travel can only work if the entry and exit points are out of any human lines of sight. As such, Cobalt, Eddy and Ritter flew out of a shadow below a bare cherry blossom tree atop a nearby hill overlooking the mansion. They laid on the ground, gasping for air, for about ten seconds. "Well," said Eddy, "And here I thought the punch would be the worst part of this party." Cobalt and Ritter glared at him. "Sorry, the jokes make me feel better, it's what I do." Eddy helped Cobalt to her feet, while Ritter dusted off his suit. "So, what's the plan now?"

Cobalt sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "We have no choice," she said. "I have to be bait."

* * *

The first few weeks of Kevin's new job were less than spectacular. As the newest member, he was given the honorary title of "Odd Jobber". Though the circus took that to mean "slave" more often than not. Any job that no one felt like doing went to Kevin. Some of them weren't even all that grueling or disgusting, sometimes they were just lazy and stuck Kevin with whatever little odd or end they were supposed to be doing.

Needless to say, Kevin was a trifle miffed. The only thing keeping him from railing against his new bosses was the alternative of going back to the street. And since they had left Louisiana a while ago; that would leave him more lost than he was last time. So Kevin soldiered on, much to his new "friends" amusement. Luckily, there were perks. For one, the constant work horsing had put some muscle back on his bones. They had also provided him with a complimentary haircut every month, so no more scraggly beard. Within the first four weeks, he had begun to look like his old self again. Now if only they would give him a complimentary bike that didn't smell like a humorous analogy involving poo, everything would be great.

But as he shoveled said humorous analogy, shriveling under the summer Midwestern sun, Zippie yanked on his coating of sweat which had at one point in time been called a shirt, gaining his attention. Zippie then shrieked, gaining his annoyance. "Good afternoon, Kevin," said Victor, dangling from his monkey's hip. "You're looking rather glum."

"Well excuse me if shoveling shit wasn't what I had in mind when I joined the circus," Kevin grunted as he piled another pile into a bucket.

"Well what DID you expect?" asked Victor.

"I dunno, maybe that the circus that employs the shrunken head of a fictional character, an assistant who reminds me of Jason Alexander if he was a zombie, _Carl,_ and had a ringleader who looks like a thrift store exploded on him, would be a bit more out there."

"That's not enough for you?" Zippie put his hands on his hips. Victor's actions, Zippie's body.

"Well, some pay above minimum wage would also be cool."

Zippie shrugged. "I'm the wrong man to ask about that," Victor said. "Look, if you want a more exciting position, talk to Amadeus, he has a…talent for spotting the talents of others." With that, Zippie hopped away, taking Victor along with him. Leaving Kevin to shovel shit in solitude.

Kevin was starting to think an error had been made.

* * *

"I hate this plan," Eddy said from Cobalt's doorway, where he was leaned on his side. Cobalt, meanwhile, was stuffing a shotgun in the grandfather clock in the corner of her apartment. As you do.

"Good, we're in agreement then," Cobalt replied, closing the clock, leaving the gun inside. "Plan A went the way of Yutakana's innards, so this is our only surefire option to draw him out into the open."

"You sure? You telling me there aren't any more businessmen. In _Tokyo_? The churros have installment plans here!"

Cobalt looked up from setting another trap at Eddy, her head tilted in confusion. "You…found a churro stand here?"

Eddy shrugged. "Yeah. Maybe. Possibly. I'm gonna have an interesting bathroom trip otherwise."

"Well, you made it weird." Cobalt turned around to continue her booby trapping. Eddy dropped down from a portal in the ceiling in front of her. His eyes were averted from Cobalt, but she could practically feel the regret coming off of him.

"Look, it's just," Eddy started. "Back there, I screwed up-"

"No, I screwed up," Cobalt said firmly, looking Eddy dead in the eyes. "I left you alone with no backup to deal with the Kaze no Kaji while I was off brooding. You did everything right; you stayed with the client, never let him out of your sight, and didn't take any _unnecessary_ risks. This is all on me, and I'm going to fix it on my own."

"So what, this is all about you now?" Eddy asked, incredulous. "This ain't just your neck on the line here, ya know!" By now the two were in each other's faces.

"I know, that's why I'm doing this!" Cobalt shot back. "I'm not letting you get butchered on my account!"

"Oh, don't give me that emo anime "lone wolf" bullshit! You got benched for a few years, big whoop."

"Yes it is a "big whoop" Eddy! Three years ago, I wouldn't have frozen up! I would've done the job!" They were now puffing their chests against each other's

"I bet three years ago, you also would've known you were part of a team!"

"Like it or not, this is our only option left!"

"Fine, but like it or not, I'm helping you!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Cobalt grabbed Eddy by his tie and crashed her lips against his. Eddy was left unable to think, save for wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against him. He was still shorter than her, so Cobalt had to bend down slightly to deepen the kiss. She tasted like gun smoke and tangerines. He tasted like the shrimp and punch from the party. After fifteen blissful seconds, the two separated. They could only stare at each other while they caught their breaths. The adrenaline had made Cobalt's eyes flare up. The blue energy cracked out from her eyes like back on the plane for two whole seconds before dying back down.

Eddy cleared his throat. "So," he said, reaching down to grab an uzi from the counter. "Where does this go?"

Cobalt shook her head, reactivating her brain, before pointing over to a nightstand. "Put it over there, I'll set it up later, I actually need your help with this other thing." With that, Cobalt and Eddy got to work setting up all the traps in the apartment.

Eddy smiled to himself. _Stagnation, broken._

* * *

The Eds typically did everything they could to schedule around this one particular day. Because of Eddy's mission, however, it was just Ed and Double d today. So, the two made their way out of the castle, down into the courtyard, past the greenhouse, and into the cemetery. The castle cemetery was a lonely place, where not even the wind dared to blow. Headstones adorned with the contractor's name and years left on their debt before they died stood side by side, forming morbid halls up and down the valley. The usual path of grass and silence led the two to their destination; Dick Sullivan's grave. "Hey Dick," Ed mumbled as Double d laid a bouquet of black roses before the tombstone. The two stood in respectful silence for a minute before hearing someone behind them.

"Ah, he died then?" asked Scarlet, who walked up to join them before the grave. "Real shame, that."

Double d turned to face her. "Did you know him?" he asked.

Scarlet chuckled lightly, humorlessly, to herself. "Know him? I recruited him." She walked up to the grave, standing at Double d's right side. She had gone somber, the party girl had been quelled in respect. "You know he was a private eye?"

"He told us he was in the mob or something," said Ed.

"Really? Well, he lied, god knows why. Anyway, he was investigating a murder case about a serial child killer." Scarlet knelt down to brush dirt and twigs off the headstone. "Now, he'd apparently been chasing this guy for years, and was getting pretty sick of it. So, I came to him and, well, offered him a deal. He works for us, and in return I help him catch this guy." Scarlet stood up and turned to look at the two again. "He looked at me and said that he didn't want me to catch him, he wanted me to kill him exactly like how he'd killed so many kids."

"So how did you do it?" Double d asked after a moment's hesitation.

"Well, here's the thing. He asked it to be exactly how he had done it. Dick had been chasing this bastard for so long, that the killer began building his schemes around the inevitable chase. So, to follow the contract, I had to make him think the killer had struck again, and goad him into following the trail." Scarlet looked back down at the grave. "And he found me waiting for him, with a limo to take him here."

Ed walked up to Scarlet. "Scarlet," he said. "It's not your fault he-"

Scarlet chuckled. "Of course it isn't, just like how it wouldn't have been Ritter's fault if you three died in the exam. It happens." Scarlet patted Ed on the shoulder as she walked off. "I'll see you two back at the castle, k?" With that, Scarlet strolled off, leaving the two very puzzled Eds behind.

* * *

If the brain inside the kaze no kaji were still alive, it probably would've chosen a different way into Cobalt's penthouse instead of the suspiciously left open window. But the kaze no kaji was driven by little else but blind xenophobic hatred and determination to correct the mistake of letting Cobalt get away. So, it flew in through the window and landed on the tile floor with a leather and metal stomp. It spotted Cobalt, who was sitting at a kotatsu in the middle of the living room. She was drinking tea, and hadn't reacted in the slightest to the kaze no kaji's entrance. It stalked across the room, drawing its sword hilt, which caught wind until it formed into the shape of a katana.

The creature was halfway to her when Cobalt spoke. "I won't ask what it was your owner was trying to accomplish," she said. "And I certainly won't ask what it is you are trying to accomplish." She calmly took a sip of her tea. "I'm sure you have your reasons, but isolationist, regressive, murderous xenophobes make me exhausted just by inhabiting the same space of air. I doubt I would glean anything close to sane from you by engaging in conversation." The Kaze no Kaji was now towering above her, its empty eye holes glaring down at the back of her bright red hair. Cobalt still showed no reaction. "You think your hatred is enough to keep out the rest of the world, to stave off the future." The creature raised its blade up, intent on bringing it down on Cobalt's head. "Any comment, Mr. Vera?" Suddenly, the kotatsu flew up and across the room, and Eddy emerged from underneath. He jumped to his feet, his large revolver in hand, aimed at the Kaze no Kaji's head.

"Welcome to the future, bitch," Eddy growled as he pulled the trigger. The Kaze no Kaji managed to dodge the bullet at the last minute and took a step forward. This turned out to be the one step it should've avoided, as its foot tripped a wire, setting off the shotgun in the grandfather clock. The shot severed the creature's only remaining human arm and blasted through the right side of its torso.

The Kaze no Kaji stumbled backward. Eddy dived forward and crouched behind its legs, tripping it down on its back. Cobalt stood up, loading her 9mm pistol. "Being able to grow back your armored limbs is fine and dandy," she said. "But the more limbs you lose, the more of a hindrance the remainder becomes." Cobalt kicked the kaze no kaji's sword away before it could use it and then unloaded her pistol into both of its legs, immobilizing it. "Eddy, get the helmet off." Eddy scrambled for the helmet, and like before, had the helmet halfway off of its head, before the kaze no kaji summoned a gust of wind to knock the two back across the room. The helmet slid back down over the corpse's face, and the sword returned to its master.

It looked down at its legs, bloody and limp from Cobalt's bullets. And even if they weren't, without both of its host body's arms, the balance was off. The legs were slowing him down, so with a swing of its blade, the legs flew off in a spray of red mist. The armor then rebuilt itself, and flew back up to its feet.

"Now that's just not fair," grunted Eddy as he pushed off the pieces of the table he broke upon landing. Eddy then jumped out of the way of a blast of wind with a "Yipe!" which then cleaved through the wall behind him like butter.

"Hey Hattori Hanzo, think fast!" Shouted Cobalt, who barreled toward the kaze no kaji, her eyes completely blue. She seamlessly dodged three swipes of the monster's sword before uppercutting it with a kick to its chin. The sheer force of the kick lifted the kaze no kaji a foot off the ground, putting it in the wall behind it.

"Jesus Horatio Christ, those legs…" Eddy muttered, awestruck. He pulled himself to his feet and ran over to join Cobalt. "Hey, where's Ritter?"

"He's here to observe, not help," said Cobalt as she lifted one of the floorboards to get the Uzi from earlier. "He's probably around here somewhere."

"Well that's just gre-where'd he go?" the kaze no kaji was gone, nowhere in sight. Cobalt and Eddy stood back to back, their guns aimed forward, and their eyes darting around the room.

Cobalt's eyes locked on vaguely human shaped gusts of wind. Evidence that the kaze no kaji was moving. She followed the pattern until it led behind her. Her eyes widened in shocked realization. She turned her entire body around on her heel, threw Eddy out of the way, and fired upon the kaze no kaji, which had appeared nanoseconds before Cobalt had moved. If it had been so much as one full second, Eddy would've been reduced to bloody mush. The kaze no Kaji just barely managed to dodge the stream of bullets.

Eddy forced himself to his feet. "This isn't working," he said. "We can't shoot it in the head without damaging the helmet."

"And if we don't take out the brain, he's just gonna keep coming," Cobalt added.

Eddy growled. Then, a thought popped into his head. A devious, risky, dangerous thought whose pursuit would probably end with him dying, even if it paid off. If he was just a second off, he was a dead man.

He liked those odds.

He pulled back the hammer on his revolver, let out a war cry, and took off like a bullet toward the kaze no kaji. "Eddy, the hell are you doing?!" Cobalt shouted.

"Something awesome!" Eddy ducked down, sliding under a swipe from the kaze no kaji. The slide took him between its legs and toward a nearby wall. Eddy opened up a portal in the wall and repositioned himself so he was sliding headfirst through the portal. The other half of the portal opened right underneath the kaze no kaji, allowing Eddy to fly up and put his gun right under the kaze no kaji's chin. A portal opened on the inside and outside of the helmet, right in the bullet's path, meaning it wouldn't break the helmet when he fired it into the corpse's skull.

But Eddy was a second off. And the kaze no kaji ran him through with his sword. It happened faster than either he or Cobalt could react. Cobalt's eyes widened in abject shock and terror, the blue glow fading away as Eddy went limp. His gun fell to the ground as his arm fell to his side. Blood filled coughs revealed he was still alive, so the kaze no kaji threw his body like a ragdoll toward one of the many holes in the wall between them and the cold open air of the Tokyo skyline. Cobalt ran to catch him, faster than she knew she could, but the kaze no kaji simply grabbed her by the neck and threw her against the wall. She reached out for Eddy as he flew out of the hole and down to the city below. "EDDY!" She cried at the top of her lungs. The monstrous samurai tightened its grip on her neck, bringing her attention back to it. She glared at the kaze no kaji with all of her hatred as she thrashed and writhed in its grip. The kaze no kaji, not budging an inch, raised its blade up to cut her down.

Her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, her life flashing before her eyes. _I'm going to die,_ she thought to herself, _I'm going to die, Eddy's dead and it's all my fault. This can't be it, it just can't, I'm a Seraphim, aren't I?!_ However, before the blade could get halfway to her head, three black tendrils shot from nowhere, aimed at the kaze no kaji's arm. Two of the tendrils cleaved through the arm holding Cobalt, while the third grabbed her and pulled back. Before Cobalt could even realize what was going on, she found herself in the arms of Ritter, with Eddy's unconscious form next to her. His stab wound was bandaged, and he was breathing with relative ease.

"I cauterized the wound and bandaged him up," said Ritter as he put the two down. Cobalt coughed and rubbed her recently squeezed neck tenderly.

"What happened to not interfering?" she asked.

"That was before you were in this level of danger," said Ritter as he walked toward the regenerating kaze no kaji. He threw aside his pinstripe waistcoat, leaving behind a form fitting white button up shirt and black tie, which held tight to his lithe form. He then removed his white gloves, revealing his bony hands which seemed to be getting longer and more claw-like. "Master Seraphim sent me to ensure that you passed your test, and he told me not to interfere. He did not, however, instruct me not to protect you if I must. And frankly my dear, I wouldn't have listened if he did."

The kaze no kaji readied its sword, while Ritter's form grew taller, to the point where he had to hunch over to fit in the room. His thin, bony frame became more so, and his fingers elongated into monstrous claws. His mouth twisted into a long, ear to ear grin laced with piranha-like teeth. "You probably want to know what I am," Ritter said to the kaze no kaji as more tendrils grew from his back. "I am Ritter, head butler to the Seraphim family. But in moments like these, I much prefer my original name…the Boogeyman."


End file.
